Whats it like

[tommy3010]

Hi all just want to know what its like as i was going to buy an oculus rift but cant really see any footage but it looks like really good quality but some people its bad do i wait or do i go for it arrrrrrrr lol

[cluck]

Unfortunately, it's very difficult to capture the exact footage you see in the Rift - almost any video you see will be the 'monitor mirror' version which, amongst other things, has a completely different FOV.

I've had one for well over 2 years now and I would never go back to driving on a monitor (or any number of monitors) again.

OK, pros and cons time :-

Pros

Immersion and general feeling of "being there". This is, by far, the big deal with VR as it puts you as close to the feeling of sitting inside a car as it is possible to get.

Depth - Due to the 3D image, you get a real sense of 'depth' to everything. Aside from looking very cool, it gives you a really nice feeling of a corner approaching and how far away things really are.

Ability to drive naturally - I've written about this before and it's something that took me a while to realise. VR frees you from having to guess where the car is going, you simply look where you want to go and drive there. It all becomes far more instinctive and natural, rather than the process of learning what the car does.

Immersion - did I mension immersion?

Immersion - I know I keep mentioning this but, it really is the thing you'll notice the most

Cons

Graphics - Back-to-back, against a monitor, VR visuals are absolutely a step-down from what you'll have been used to. Until we get 4K per eye, I doubt they will reach the visuals we have come to take for granted. I would counter this by saying that, most of the time, you simply won't notice unless you're looking for it (ie, you're concentrating on the visuals alone, rather than enjoying the driving/racing )

Hardware cost - Aside from the cost of the VR hardware itself, you really do need a decent spec PC to do it full justice.

Adjustment to a new environment - it took me a week to fully adjust to the new field-of-view in Project CARS, during which I was slower on my laptimes. After that first week, though, my laptimes then improved on where I was before and no, it wasn't just the extra practice .

Potential Nausea - The only way you'll know if you're going to have a problem is to try one for a couple of days.


Like I said, I wouldn't trade my Rift in for the world

EDIT : To summarise. If you have the spare funds to buy a Rift/Vive headset, if you have a PC that will cope (or have the funds to upgrade) and you don't experience nausea using a VR headset than you absolutely should buy one. Yes, they will improve in time but I wouldn't expect to enjoy 'monitor quality' visuals on a VR headset for at least a couple of years - it's not just the screen that is the factor here, it's also the hardware that will be required to run it. In the meantime, you get to experience just what people like myself have been shouting about for so very long now.

[Sankyo]

@Cluck, just an additional question: how is the immersion with VR?

[cluck]

@Cluck, just an additional question: how is the immersion with VR?

Good question Remco, I'm glad you asked and please accept my apologies for not being quite clear on this matter

It's incredible

[GrimeyDog]

I bought a Rift with the Intent on Taking it Back over the Holidays... Holiday Return Policy is Geat at Best Buy....after using it for a Day or So Taking it back was just Outta the Question!!! The Immersion it provides just can Not be had with a TV!!! i use 2x buttkickers with My set up and Combined with the 3d Depth perception the Rift provides its just a amazing experience!!! I still Marvel with wonder that im actually playing in My House!!!.... If you get Nausia buttkickers May Help because Feeling what you see helps your Mind to adjust.... The Down Hill Cork Screw at Laguna Seca made My Head Spin a Few Times until i adjusted to VR life....

Simply Put as Cluck said if you can Soare the Cash you wont Regret getting it.... as far as the Lower Res... I never Notice it once you get your VR settings Dialed in Right..... Note IMO its better to launch PCars in Oculus Rift Mode than it is to use Steam VR mode... for Me there is a Notable Visual Diff.... I use Oculus Rift Mode and SS 1.15.... with this i can Run 20 car Grid thunderstorm and Suffer No Notable Drop in FPS.

[RomKnight]

As some might know from reading me on my internet home I did have the same question.

cluck didn't mentioned this but the immersion factor was what sold me. It's consistently THE argument in VR and judging by some (hilarious) reactions and accidents (Ronnie O'Sullivan with sportsbar vr anyone? ) I had no more arguements or strength to keep scratching the itching so... I'm waiting my VIVE.

For simracing at least I don't think it could get much better. Even with motion rigs the "beeing there" cannot be achieved without VR

[jjcuff1]

Grimey... I felt the same thing and now rarely play any monitor games. I dont have time for much gaming anyway so the ones I do like 90% pcars, I want VR.
Graphic wise it is a apparent shock day 1 from monitor life in pcars but once you start playing, the immersion and game play, you dont look back.

One thing I found. If you use SS and AA, the cars really look as good as monitor game play within a few car lengths. I strive for that and play DXM at 1.6 and it is awesome.
Outside of that it looks ok, its the HMD draw distance and res not the game issue.


Grimey: you have similar setup to me. You should OC that i5 and GPU. I have a little less then you in specs and run SS from 1.3-1.6 depending on AA.

[kingsti]

I've had my hive for a couple of months now.

For the first 2 weeks, I used it pretty much every day, tested lots of games/demos and set up revive so I can play occulus games as well. The experience was definitely amazing and the immersion is spot on. There's a ton of good stuff as mentioned in previous posts but I'd also say it's not the panacea. You have to find the games you like and gel with in VR then it becomes worth it.

I'll just focus on the not so great things here as the positives speak for themselves.

Out of the 50 or so things I tried, there's about 10 that ended up in my favourites and I'll only play 3 of these regularly. That's fine though. It's like - if I bought my PC and could only play project cars on it and 2 other games - I'd still be pretty happy

Some more issues are to do with performance and graphics. For any game with modern graphics e.g Pcars, I had to tinker with all sorts of settings to get decent performance/FPS - even on my 1080. Strangely, pcars makes me feel a bit nauseous but I can play Assetto corsa or Dirt rally without problem. The latter two actually feel quite nice and comfortable in VR. I've not gel'd with Pcars in VR and so continue playing 2D (which still looks amazing on my 43 inch 4k screen).

On the graphics, when using it for fast moving games I find that objects don't look very 'solid' and if a car is e.g 100 meters ahead, the details of the car quickly disappear. This reduces the sense of realism.

One other thing which is both a plus and a minus at the same time is that you do find yourself 'in the game'. That is, sometimes it is too much to be so involved in the game. You may just want a traditional experience where you are sat on your chair, facing the screen and playing whatever game as opposed to being in the game, moving/dodging things and becoming too involved and physical.

Overall, it's definitely worth having the headset but for me it has its place alongside the other modes of play.

[jjcuff1]

I partially agree with Kingti and my experience.

You need to find your game(s) very true. I love Racing and flight sims and for VR even more so. Now War Thunder looks great too and immersion is insane I feel like I am flying. But it is hard to get used to playing in sim. I need more time.
I want to pick up and play and many current games are strategy or story based. So very slow etc and require a lot of motion do do simple things and it gets old.

Few other games that have insane graphics are Eve, Climb and Everspace.

The Touch Sports demos are great to be on a live court. But still games suck, just demos.

Graphics wise I found the Pcars to be the VR slayer. I wish more sites used it as a benchmark. I see all these BS 1920HD games that require nothing more then a 960 to get 50+ all run 140FPS+ on all modern cards. Yet Pcars will bring a 1080 to 20FPS.
That said the games I mentioned above are effortless with the 1010. I max ALL of my otehr games out. AA, SS 2.0 etc and they run fine.

FPS: I am trying Onward, Art of the Knife and they work well but still MP only and getting into a game is slow, and learning to play is buggy and slow when you get killed before you start. They need better touch FPS games. I might try Arma.

Sitting. I like the touch/stand thing but I rather just sit and use touch and have a spin feature with my HMD while seated.

Way too dorky, dangerous and silly to dedicate a whole room to play in let me sit.

[DaWorstPlaya]

I agree with everything everyone else has said.

Let me add one more thing, I started playing Project Cars in VR (although I bought the game when it 1st came out). I got motion sickness for a week but got over it after adjusting a few settings. Now it feels natural. Then I went over to a friend's place to play Pcars on his triple screen setup. I could barely keep the car on the road because I felt so disconnected.

VR made that much of a difference. So much so, that I don't want to play any racing sims that aren't in VR anymore.