Community Question | Who Here Uses VR, And Why?

[Paul Jeffrey]

Sim racing is far more than just the simulations themselves - a long, wide and varied array of hardware can be used to enhance your experience, and one such device is VR - but who here uses it on a regular basis?

VR - otherwise known as Virtual Reality, brings with it the ability to place a driver right into the heart of a virtual racing cockpit. Adding an immersive 3D experience to the driving aspect of sim racing, the technology and immersion are no doubt impressive - but can come with a cost - namely loss of visual performance, high PC horsepower demand and the (potential) discomfort of wearing a headset for prolonged periods of time.

As with much in life, one has to weigh up the pros and cons and VR is no different. With that said, I'd love to know how many of us here at RaceDepartment regularly use their VR headsets when sim racing, and the reasons why they prefer it (or not) over traditional screens.

Fire away in the comments section and poll!

 

[roadyroad]

Thanks for all the help, much appreciated.

I race in AC 80-90% of the time, and the rest of the time in ACC, but sounds like maybe I still need to wait a bit before trying VR again. When researching VR I read of folks finding the G2 on sale for $400, though I don't know when they found those sales. At that price it may be tempting.

Also, I might be able to make room for a small removable shelf to set a joystick/HOTAS controller up for flight SIM. No way that I can see to get a yoke in place to use my triples.
Hindsight being so good , if I had set my seat on sliders I might have room for a yoke.

Indeed, if you need good graphics, VR may not be the good choice for you. Did you try to adjust your VR parameters? Supersampling? Asw? It really is necessary to get a better VR experience with a much better definition. I don't which tool is the vest for the rift S but some research should give you the answer. In AC ypu should get much better results. I use a rift and it was awful by default. Few adjustments really changed the game.
Both AC and ACC are easy to use with a mouse close to your wheel (I have a small table with my mouse and keyboard, the escape button to pause, the left ctrl to recenter the view, easy to reach buttons).

For flight sims, imo you really need a set of controllers with lots of buttons. If not, I find difficult to use the keyboard in VR. With a mouse in clickable cockpits it should work though, I haven't tried this way.

 

[mgh24]

Apparently I am way behind the times. Just heard of head tracking. That might be enough to satisfy me.

More hours of research ahead

 

[mgh24]

Tried head tracking using my phone as a camera. Not much benefit over triples for racing in AC (only sim I tried it in). There are a few settings in OpenTrack to work with to try to get it to operate more smoothly, but I never got there, it was still very sensitive to movement.

I will try it again when I get flight controllers and am using a flight sim. I can see how the ability to look all around would be a big benefit in a flight sim, but it may take some work to get it dialed in. Examples I have seen on YouTube look very smooth as users are panning around, so I can see it is possible, but I didn't get there.

From what I remember of the Rift S, the motion of moving head around was very smooth in the display.

Also got a little motion sickness, which does not bode well for trying VR.

 

[tk3133]

I started out getting a VR Headset to pair with my sim racing set for a not-too-common reason, to save space. Ended up enjoying it more than I thought. Also most of the games i play (Dirt Rally 2.0, rFactor 2, AC etc.) all support VR and luckily I never get motion sick within VR.

The only gripe i have is that the resolution/sharpness is quite poor. Dirt Rally being the worst offender. Resolution settings are locked out in most games under VR, and the Windows Mixed Reality settings for the display are already on the max resolution. Got me stumped. Apart from that its much more immersive than a screen.

 

[mgh24]

I started out getting a VR Headset to pair with my sim racing set for a not-too-common reason, to save space. Ended up enjoying it more than I thought. Also most of the games i play (Dirt Rally 2.0, rFactor 2, AC etc.) all support VR and luckily I never get motion sick within VR.

The only gripe i have is that the resolution/sharpness is quite poor. Dirt Rally being the worst offender. Resolution settings are locked out in most games under VR, and the Windows Mixed Reality settings for the display are already on the max resolution. Got me stumped. Apart from that its much more immersive than a screen.

Curious to know what headset you are using?

 

[Callsign BH]

Somehow I've never seen this thread until now...

I used TrackIR5 for head tracking in flight sims for several years, then the Oculus CV1 came out and after a few months of resistance I gave it a try. I haven't gamed on a monitor, besides FPS games like COD or BF here and there, since that day. Total game changer for me in terms of immersion and really making me love flight and race sims.

I'd rather not sim at all rather than sim on a monitor. It was that much of a game changer for me.

 

[Rebel_488]

VR for me too. Had the rift s, quest 2 very briefly and then the g2. I have had a Samsung g9 since dec 2021, it hasn’t been lifted out of the box yet as vr is too good. Tho I will install it very soon as I think I’m ready to admit defeat to acc in vr sadly.

 

[born2bslow]

VR all the way for me, I’ve had triples in the past. As soon as I got hold of an Oculus CV1 5 yrs ago I was hooked. Resolution drop was an issue then, but I’ve progressed now to Pimax 8kx which is just stunning, I just can’t drive pancake anymore. The immersion is everything.
Added bonus for those who like the odd shandy, I got absolutely wasted for the first time in many years, pre-vr I would have woken up in the morning and if the room was spinning it would have been barf city. I think because my brain dis-associated what I’m seeing from what my inner ear is feeling, I just lay in bed watching the room spin and it didn’t affect me at all.

You can train your brain over time, so if you really like the idea of VR stick with it, build up slowly and stop as soon as you feel odd, you can’t push through it!

 

[mgh24]

Added bonus for those who like the odd shandy, I got absolutely wasted for the first time in many years, pre-vr I would have woken up in the morning and if the room was spinning it would have been barf city. I think because my brain dis-associated what I’m seeing from what my inner ear is feeling, I just lay in bed watching the room spin and it didn’t affect me at all.

Now that is funny!

Also encouraging.