Oculus Rift S - First Impressions

Posted this on iracing but might as well copy and post it here if it helps anyone, or anyone would wish to add re their experience or other sims.

Really great upgrade, I wouldn't want to go back to the rift OG. Seeing things I never saw in my CV1. Stopped on the track to check the distance you could pick braking boards out with real clarity, between 200-300 ft, pin sharp as you go between markers, that alone makes a huge difference, and that was tested at Watkins Glenn with the little white on black boards at the end of the first straight. All the onboard info, relative etc, crystal clear, just takes a glance now, no leaning in which I had to do previously, same with in car dashes.No real sense of a sweet spot anymore though that clearly still exists, and SDE pretty much gone.

Going round belle island was a joy with all the billboards sharp and clear. Best thing I can probably describe is in replay mode, previously it was fine, but mid distant objects and far were more 'well I know that's a tree'. Now they are clear trees. Is it a 1080p rendition, well not quite, but not so far short now that it's going to bother you given the immersive bonus of VR. There is a ton of extra detail to enjoy and things I'd never seen in VR before, from the clarity of grandstands, signage and car detailing, to waves on water and the rendering of grass. Any brake marker you want now you can have.

The sound is not too bad. I tried it with some Cooler Master MH751's and given all the extra fuss of separate headphones, I'll stick to the in build speakers for now, bright and crisp like the displays, though it will definitely annoy sound buffs. The spacial audio is also much better on the S with the build in than on the Rift OG. It gets the job done to start with, possibly better for some VR experiences, but if you want the real gruff sounds then headphones required.

It's a definite upgrade, I'd say a worthy one, and it's no more taxing on the GPU meaning you still have all your headroom for the other aspects of image quality, AA, SS etc.

Absolutely zero change in the experience going to 80hz. Great if you wear glasses too. Tracking perfect. Zero light bleed in the headset and yet to get foggy for some reason. FOV feels slightly wider to me, but it's marginal, certainly felt wider in tin tops.

Very very happy with it, VR feels right now, not just an impression of a great experience. Top upgrade for 400 in my opinion and a sensible path while waiting for VR 2.0. Don't get mega hyped that you are suddenly going to be in the VR world of your dreams, it takes a few hours to understand the delights of the S, but it's way more than a side upgrade and is a great fit if you don't want to upgrade your PC. Solid improvements, really big impact. Highly recommended on first impressions.

NB the only other game I've briefly tested in is rF2, and I have to say it's a bit of a game changer in that too.
 
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I have a few titles that require SteamVR in order to run. Unless a title has native Oculus support you have to keep the SteamVR in place.

Usually when you go into a game it will say, Oculus or SteamVR, sometimes there is a no VR option, I recently saw an additional SteamVR option that I assume is in preparation for the Index, but I'm not sure.
 
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Got mine today after reading the good reviews, will be giving it a good testing on this evening's stream..will report back with impressions. :)

DcZhGdF.jpg
 
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So far, I'm impressed. I previously used the Rift. I find the S picture to be noticeably clearer. Screen door effect is definitely less. Change from 90 to 80 Mhz. seems irrelevant. Headset seems equally comfortable and with room for eyeglasses. (I had to use prescription VR lenses in the Rift.)
 
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So far, I'm impressed. I previously used the Rift. I find the S picture to be noticeably clearer. Screen door effect is definitely less. Change from 90 to 80 Mhz. seems irrelevant. Headset seems equally comfortable and with room for eyeglasses. (I had to use prescription VR lenses in the Rift.)
What s about the audio?
 
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What s about the audio?

You'll want headphones Wajdi. They gets the job done (certainly has worse cheap headphone in my time), it's probably fine for some general gaming and the spacial awareness is actually very good so its usable, but really for regular use in sims you'll want cans or earplugs, too much immersion lost with the built in sound (Raceroom was very underwhelming) - it's clear but lacking weight and depth.
 
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Not gone too smoothly for me, rift s itself is brilliant but performance just seems *off*. Ryzen 1700@3.8ghz/16gb ddr4 3000mhz/gtx 1080 ti...even in ac which on my last wmr hmd was fine I'm not holding 80fps with one car at Brands.
Uninstalled afterburner, updated all drivers and currently updating to the may win 10 update to test while I'm out.

Any pointers?
 
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Not gone too smoothly for me, rift s itself is brilliant but performance just seems *off*. Ryzen 1700@3.8ghz/16gb ddr4 3000mhz/gtx 1080 ti...even in ac which on my last wmr hmd was fine I'm not holding 80fps with one car at Brands.
Uninstalled afterburner, updated all drivers and currently updating to the may win 10 update to test while I'm out.

Any pointers?

My experience having had the S for longer is that there is perhaps a 5/10% performance cost. In the game that puts the most demands on my 9600k 1080 PC2 I've new dips in extreme conditions, ie wet weather with the same settings, others iracing, rF2 I have plenty of headroom so it's running butter smooth locked as before and a non issue. It's probably a case of going back at step as with setting up a CV1 and creating a new graphics baseline.
 
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My experience having had the S for longer is that there is perhaps a 5/10% performance cost. In the game that puts the most demands on my 9600k 1080 PC2 I've new dips in extreme conditions, ie wet weather with the same settings, others iracing, rF2 I have plenty of headroom so it's running butter smooth locked as before and a non issue. It's probably a case of going back at step as with setting up a CV1 and creating a new graphics baseline.

If you have AC, do you mind spinning a few laps around Brands Hatch (any car) as a point of reference for me so I can gauge my fps to yours if that's ok?
 
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Well, updated to the May creators update and that seems to have done the trick (no idea why tho), tested AC with a 20 car grid in the RSS V6 and although asw kicks in it's still looking pretty smooth.

One question though, in steamVR do you keep the applications resolution @ 100% or drop it to the native per eye res of the S, always wondered as going by what it says at 100% surely that'd be supersampling i guess?
 
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Well, updated to the May creators update and that seems to have done the trick (no idea why tho), tested AC with a 20 car grid in the RSS V6 and although asw kicks in it's still looking pretty smooth.

One question though, in steamVR do you keep the applications resolution @ 100% or drop it to the native per eye res of the S, always wondered as going by what it says at 100% surely that'd be supersampling i guess?
I wont matter for ac because it uses native oculus mode not steamvr.
 
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I wont matter for ac because it uses native oculus mode not steamvr.

What could have happened is that it was downloading the Windows Update behind the scenes bogging his computer down. I've seen this happen before. MS will just start downloading a file any time they feel like it. You can schedule installation of updates, but to my best knowledge, you can't schedule when the files are downloaded. I need to look into that to verify it.
 
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For people who have the cv1 and just got the S headset how are you setting up the S are you guys uninstalling the cv1 first or can you have both running?
Only asking because I'm getting the S headset on Wednesday but I would rather keep the cv1 installed in case I decide to take the S back.
 
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Well, updated to the May creators update and that seems to have done the trick (no idea why tho), tested AC with a 20 car grid in the RSS V6 and although asw kicks in it's still looking pretty smooth.

One question though, in steamVR do you keep the applications resolution @ 100% or drop it to the native per eye res of the S, always wondered as going by what it says at 100% surely that'd be supersampling i guess?

For what is worth. Updated Win10 to 1905 and experienced a significant better performance on ACC. Have not tried AC. Using Lenovo Explorer.
 
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For people who have the cv1 and just got the S headset how are you setting up the S are you guys uninstalling the cv1 first or can you have both running?
Only asking because I'm getting the S headset on Wednesday but I would rather keep the cv1 installed in case I decide to take the S back.

You just follow the guide, connect, firmware etc. You don't need to uninstall, oculus recognises the S and CV1 as different devices so you can switch between the two, same drivers.
 
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ORIGINAL RIFT -v- RIFT S

Background
I've had the CV1 (Rift) since 2016 and been very happy, but it developed a fault a couple of months ago and was refunded. I couldn't hold on any longer for the 'next gen' vr, so now have a Rift S. As I keep telling my wife, I'm not a gamer, I'm a sim racer, so this comparison is exclusively in respect of sim racing. So far I've tested in AC and Pcars2. This is a personal view based on first impressions. Others my disagree or have a different experience.

Unboxing
Box is lighter and emptier than the Rift Touch package but of course does not contain two sensors and cables. Headset feels heavier, but suspect the additional weight is in the halo which contains solid plastic.

Setup
Setup was reasonably easy. Oculus and some reviewers make a big thing about ease of setup with no sensors, but I'm not sure it applies to us sim-racers as we spend all our time setting up and configuring wheels, pedals, shifters etc, etc.

Comfort
At first it was a bit of a fiddle, and I thought my big nose was going to be a problem, but the more I used it the more natural it felt. So far I'd say for me the S is as comfortable as the Rift. I was worried about the thickness of the halo and dial at the back hitting the racing seat, but this hasn't been a problem. The ability to move the screen box in and out means that I could wear glasses if needs be, which was never possible comfortably in the Rift. However, to get the best FOV and reduce goggle outlines (see below) I needed to have the screen as close to my eyes as possible.

Visuals
The Good:
There is less screen door effect. It's still they, but smaller and less obtrusive. This makes a big difference.
Yes, when you see print with the headset on it is much clearer and sharper, but who drives a car while reading a book?
The screen is better. Driving a Porsche LMP1 at Le Mans with other LMPs around me, it all looked clearer and the cockpit is sublime. I can read the dials on the steering wheel so much better Also, surroundings (trees, advertising banners, armcos etc) are closer to a photo image than in the the Rift. Long distance images are better in the S than the Rift, but not crystal clear.
The colours to me look fine. The blacks are black enough for sim racing.
The Bad:
I have an IPD of 61, lower than that recommended for best performance in the S. I'd be surprised if the software IPD adjustment does any more than change the number in the little box that pops up!
I don't know if this is IPD related, bit I can see a round clear area in the middle, and then both to the left and right (if I concentrate) the black edges of that circle and a blurry crescent area before the edge of the overall screen. It does feel like I could reduce this if I was able to move the lenses closer together as with the old Rift.

Sound
I do like good quality sound, so was expecting this to be awful, but it was OK'ish. It needs to be louder but hopefully they will sort this with the next firmware release. More of a problem for me was the fact that I could hear my shifter clunking and the buttkickers rattling, which breaks the immersion. I will experiment with earbuds and full closed headphones.

Tracking & Performance
Comparing this with the Rift on the same PC & game settings, I am getting maximum fps in the S where I got maximum in the Rift, and half fps with ASW where I got ASW before. However, there were times when if things were moving fast it looked a bit blurry. Not sure if this is tracking, fps or both.

Conclusion:

Overall, it's better, but not brilliantly so. If I had not had my Rift refunded, and had spent £400 to buy the S in addition to keeping the Rift, I would have been disappointed. I see this as an interim solution whilst I wait for things in the VR world to settle down, and see which of the upcoming headsets will give a bigger stepup from the original Rift.
 
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I just received mine. I agree most of the points presented above. However, I think you slightly downplay the difference the new display makes. It's just so much better! The kind of smudge over everything in the original Rift is just gone. It's not full hd yet, but everything that is there is sharp. To me that is a great improvement.
 
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I also just got mine tonight and I must say i'm still not convinced its a good enough upgrade to justify the £400 outlay, yes the display is brighter and crisper but is it four hundred notes brighter and crisper :unsure:, not sure I'll keep it until the weekend and make my mind up then.
Played ACC with both and I think the original rift ran slightly smoother and that makes a big difference in game, but as I said i've only got it, so will give it a few days :)
 
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