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!

 

[Rant5150]

Yeah, after using VR for racing sims, racing with monitors is just not as fun or as immersive for me.

 

[cameron_etc]

I use a Rift CV1 and even with the frankly terrible resolution, it's just too immersive for me to ever go back. Having 3D vision just makes it feel like really driving. In fact, my rig is VR-only now. It has its downsides but IMO the pros outweigh the cons.

I can't wait to upgrade my headset. My Rift has served me well but its time has come.

 

[Wayne Hutchison]

Until you can get the same resolution and FOV as triples (critical for oval racing), a lot of people won't bother with VR.

 

[Fonsvinkunas]

That stuff is expenssive

 

[2stains]

I had a CV1 for over a year, at first (the honeymoon) it was brilliant but after that first month or 3 had past the constant struggle between fps and quality (1080ti/7700k), the uncomfortable HMD, fog, being unable to see surrounding irl and low resolution became too much so I went to triples. A year later and I still feel like it was the right decision. I will however look back into VR when it is glasses especially now PC power is more likely going to run it with little problems.

 

[SOLO59]

I finally got freesync working with the use of a third party app, CRU.

Now I've cranked my game settings from low to high in AC! This is on a 3840x1080p ultrawide monitor, AMD RX 580 GPU, i5 9400 9th gen CPU and Trackir. Averaging close to my monitors refresh rate of 120fps via 118fps. Over 20 cars in my last on line club race. (For freesync, I need to cap my fps at 118. I get some dips but that's what freesync is for).

Now for VR.... Would my pc specs above be able to handle those high in game graphic settings at my monitors refresh rate with 20 plus cars??? I don't think so.... Maybe my CPU is enough but not GPU. $1000 on vr headset and about $600-1000 on a really good GPU is just crazy!!! And you still gotta use a screen for navigation purposes right?

The cost of a good VR headset, lack of comfort, and the cost to be able to run VR is just too high for the regular budget gamer.

4k has been around, but 1080p is just simply affordable and still looks really good so long as you ain't trying to nit pick while diving at 300km/h at Le Mans in a P2 car lol

Have I tried VR? YES... Did I even like it? HELL YA!!! Stepped out the rig like yo this motion setup is crazy!!! One of the guys running the sim racing event said "there's no motion in this setup man and laughed." VR had me thinking the rig had a motion platform under the seat! That's how blown away I was!

But when you break it down like I did above... VR for me is not worth it right now... It needs to be closer to the wide public usage, cost and performance of a 1080p monitor. When will that happen? Don't think anytime soon... I'm pretty contempt with my current setup! Gets the job done for performance, cost and comfort.

I do still want VR in the future cause I know I can handle it, I got no motion sickness and if it weren't for the heat, felt like I could race for hours in VR sick-free!

I've seen people on youtube struggling to get in a single qualifying lap and missed practice session completely because they had so many random VR issues preventing them from racing.

With my setup (including my base shaker setup for that impressive immersion), I can see the apex, check mirrors, my side windows to see whos beside me, and most of all, I have a crystal clear view down the track, no sweaty smelly huge headset, I can still use my button boxes and virtual dash displays.... I'm not trying to give reasons why VR is bad... I loved my experience with it. I'm just trying to give reasons why I personally do not need VR anytime soon. I want VR to thrive and I know it will but not today

 

[TachyonGod]

I've used VR, but much prefer triple screens with TrackIR (head tracking).

 

[BazzaLB]

Pretty much exclusive VR player these days. I play mostly sims so it suits it down to the ground. I was one of the very few people who found HL:A very meh though. I found the incessant loading annoying and didnt really see anything that I hadnt seen before on other titles. Maybe thats because I started using VR the moment the Vive came out (now on Vive Pro).

Anyway, I digress. I play flight sims, race sims, truck sims, space sims, rally sims.. All in VR. This is why I don't really play ACC because its crap in VR if you ask me.

I'm not the dance around the room type any more so tend to play VR seated where possible.

I do play the odd monitor 'flat screen' title although I even try to play those in 3D if possible via 3DVision using the various community fixes. (47 inch 3DTV on my desk).

 

[BBRacing]

I had an oculus a few years back and a couple of things stood out for me, lining up on the grid with a Ferrari F1 car was just mind blowing and racing a BMW GT2 around mugello, outstanding immersion but unfortunately I didn’t like all of the wires attached and the graphics weren’t perfect, so I sold it. Would defo buy again when the tech is better though

 

[kevintaddo10]

Tried VR in a PS4 event in Barcelona (I was on holiday there) with GT sport. That was good, I hope it will become cheaper in the future... Now I'd rather spend 500 euros for a Fanatec, not for a VR that I cannot use in all games (cough cough, F1 2020, cough cough..)

 

[RichardHessels]

Only with openwheelers. tintops have to little space ahead so i'm basicaly watchin trough a small opening on the screen. Making the resolution of 1440x1600 per eye going down to less than 3rd of it.
Plus my GTX1080ti got problems getting good framerate in ACC and rF2.
Or i have to turn details down so much, it looks like a title from 10 years ago.
Where iRacing runs super fluid (but they support nVidia native multiprojecting).

 

[Evi]

Question for VR users. How you press buttons on your real steering wheel during racing? Adjusting pit strategy?

 

[Andreas Dahl]

I have a high-end rig (not motion) and high-end PC. I've got a HP reveb heatset and a 1440p 49" ultra wide monitor set up perfectly with carefully calculated FOV, covering 120 degrees of visual field. I have to say I rarely use the VR headset.

VR pro:
- Great immersion
- Great sense of speed
- More adrenaline
- Better awareness of opponents.
VR con:
- Cables
- Heat/condensation (though condensation not an issue when the prisms heat up)
- Cant use secondary screens/custom dash (I'm a big fan of simhub), I feel like overlays ruin the experience.
- Off/on with the headset all the time for adjusting stuff/programs running in the background, analyzing stints etc.
- Most importantly: As a father of todlers, I cant really be that "offline" in the evenings. In VR Im totally unaware of my surroundings, doesnt feel good to me.

All in all I prefer the 49".

 

[DirkW]

I have been using VR since 4 years and when I started simracing 6 months ago, it was the perfect combination. VR is already alone giving an incredible immersion, and combined with tactile devices like FFB, shakers, wind sim, motion rig it feels like the real, adrenaline flowing thing

A friend of mine says VR makes him 2 seconds faster because the 3d view allows better estimate of brake points, apex etc.

 

[IceColdBeard_24]

Just a toy for know, the technology will grow into something far better soon enough. I'm waiting for less technical limitations. I've been using it for quite sometimes but I'm now back to my regular curved screen. It's a great experience and feeling to put on the headset and I think the ones that never tried yet should ! Beware of the motion sickness as some game might and some others not

 

[BertramRaven]

VR for all car and aircraft sims for reasons of space constraints and immersion; triples would take up too much space and leave me without the freedom I need to look around. I don't think I could go back to monitors for anything other than arcade driving , but then I would use either an Xbox one or PS4 controller.
VR is definitely no toy. I use Vive rather than anything in the oculus series as the sustained frame-rate is still too low on the oculus AND Facebook are tightening the Oculus eco-system each day to lock people out if they don't want an FB account. For now, it's just the standalone headsets, but recent updates indicate Facebook is going to lock out all Oculus HMD's soon.
With the Vive I get a steady 90fps, exactly matching the HMD screens, on all titles - that's very important if you don't want to experience motion sickness.
I do use custom lenses, though. They do not have the focusing artifacts of Fresnel lenses and make for a more immersive effect. If you have to option to swap lenses to non-Fresnel, do it.

 

[MirNet]

VR

The one on one drivers eye, and the thrill that goes with it. It's the same with nearly all VR first person experiences, holding a gun up, using a blade, it's the ultimate connective experience. Going back to clicking buttons to do things, and viewing them through a window box monitor is a hard step back when you've become accustom to the one on one experience of doing a thing.

What more excites me more about VR is taking it beyond the driver in the car behind the wheel. Hopefully the day will come where you can walk around in your pit garage, engage with your team and other drivers, observe video and race data, a true race day and feel. The scope for E-sports also fits in with that type of world, from presentation to spectating. Sitting in the stands, being track side with a group of friends, far more an engaging experience than watching a stream.

VR is and can be so much more than just putting you in the drivers seat.

 

[Johannes Steiger]

I basically agree on most thats been said in the comments so far.

The immersion when you are "inside" e.g. one of the RSS GT1, fighting for the win, sweating and beeing fully involved is just incredible.
On the other hand, getting totally lost in a "video game" and be completely seperated from the outside, feels just not right from time to time.
Especially when you are married and have a family.
So you have to choose your time slots more carefully than with screen(s).

AC and AMS2 are my go-to-sims and theyre running perfect with my setup.
I love AC, its the reason I (re)started Simracing.

But Nowadays ACC is the place to be for competitive online racing, which is just unplayable in VR (at least for me....).
I tried it on screens, it looked fantastic and felt pretty good, but yeah.... I maybe have to upgrade my setup in the future.

VR has its pros and cons, like everything related to our beautiful hobby, but for me as an 100% VR user theres no way back...

In the end it is not a rational deviation for me, it is just what I prefer.
.
Take care guys and stay healthy

 

[MrBraindown]

Question for VR users. How you press buttons on your real steering wheel during racing? Adjusting pit strategy?

It can be a challenge, I've worked it out by pure feel, trial and error etc. But you do have some mishaps! I've got a button box which I find easier to use for stuff like that.

 

[640er]

Tried the Oculus CV1. Immersion is great but the image quality was a let down. Can't wait to try the new Reverb G2 in the hope the screendoor effect will be (at least nearly) gone.