VR in sim car racing...

[5-Card-Major]

To improve the sim car racing experience, would a VR headset be an alternative to getting a large, wide screen monitor? Andrew already told me *yes*. I barely know anything about this technology.

And is this a good starting point article?

Best VR Headset For Sim Racing (2021) | Smart Glasses Hub

Seeing you here reading this article, chances are you are a racing enthusiast. You most probably already own a PC gaming rig and a racing…

smartglasseshub.com

 

[5-Card-Major]

This depends on your prescription. I'm a -2.75 which isn't considered to be "very" bad (some people have -9.0 or worse) and I need to wear glasses.
But it's a non-issue. The Oculus Rift S has enough space for me to slide it on with glasses and it doesn't scratch the lenses.
There's also a button you can hold under the Rift S to extend or shorten the focal distance. You can use aftermarket foam inserts to increase padding as well.

Maybe it's more of an issue depending on what kind of sight problem it is and it's severity.

At several sites, the key number that was mentioned a lot was 6.5 feet... that if you need vision help for that distance, then you probably need to wear the glasses/contacts. But if your vision issue is at less than or greater than that distance, then you may not need vision help in VR.

So, for me the answer is that I don't know yet if I'll need to wear glasses with VR, *IF* I decide to go VR that is... I wear my reading glasses all the time when playing games now, and my 27" Acer is about two feet away from me.

 

[5-Card-Major]

At that other thread about VR someone referenced an electrical wrist device...( https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B...in_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1&tag=racedep-20 ). Anyone else here have personal experience with that?

 

[cosmokram3r]

I bought my new sim/rig and stared in Forza 4 with my mate. I wasn't super impressed. It was kinda fun but never having tried a sim before I wasn't sold that I'd made the right purchase.

As soon as I tried racing in VR (I've had a Rift S for 6 months).. WOW. I now use my rig every single day for at least a few hours. I refuse to race on a screen again.

Once you go VR, you will never look back. It is breathtaking.

 

[Rainman2020]

Was going to post a related question here, but decided to put it into its own thread

 

[Deleted member 197115]

Most titles are full VR, some, like AC, only races are VR, the game UI is not.
There are some virtual desktop software packages, not sure about overhead they add though, personally prefer to have at least some monitor on the rig. There are always some things you need to do outside the game, edit config file, check GPU overclock, etc.

 

[cosmokram3r]

I was just going to post a related question to this thread, but will ask it here as the questions go together...

Question:

I too am about to make the plunge into getting a sim rig and wanting to go primarily VR. I have never tried VR, so have to get past that hurdle with possible motion sickness etc. But, assuming that i can play primarily in VR, the question is 'Can i play EXCLUSIVELY in VR?'

For example, my main computer desk will be 5 feet from my sim racing cockpit. If i can play in VR, i am hoping that i do not have to buy yet another monitor that is only used on the cockpit. I already have 2 monitors on the computer desk. Can i just use the computer monitor to setup the game, etc on the computer desk, then jump into the cockpit on VR exclusively (i.e. NO single monitor on the sim rig itself at all), and play in VR, then jump back to the computer desk when finished to see the replay, setup the next race, etc)?

I really don't want to pay yet ANOTHER $600 to get another monitor AND a single monitor stand that is only used on the sim rig if i can avoid it. Can i get away with that, assuming i can get 'my vr legs'?

Thanks
Randy

Yeah that's what I usually do. I have my monitor just to set up my game, SimHub, do my mods on AC and normal PC use. Once I set up the game in AC, I'll pop on my VR headset, use my wireless keyboard to press start and away I go. If you found yourself needing to use the PC while the headset is on, you can just pull up Virtual Desktop using your VR controller and it will bring up your PC while you're in VR which you can control using the VR controller so you don't even need the keyboard. So you don't need to use your PC again you can just be the entire time in VR. You can do that from the start too if you really wanted After that I usually exit the game, take off the VR headset and go to my monitor and save/replay the video in the max resolution single screen in AC for the best replay graphics recording and PPE. So really you only need a really basic monitor if you're not really gonna be gaming on it.

VR legs take time. I've been into VR for 6 months and the heavy locomotion games were tough at the start. You build up session time and use aides. 15 min, 20 min, 30 min, 40 min etc. Chew anti nausea ginger gum, have a fan on you while you're playing (I still do this each session). All this helps.

I stopped playing with my VR for about 2-3 months because I got into COD. When I got my sim rig I popped it back on and played PC2 in VR. I felt sick after about 30 min of playing so I stopped. A few hours later I jumped back on. Turned out I had the graphics too high so it was only playing at 40 fps instead of 80 fps and that low framerate can tend to make you sick. I turned down the graphics and got a steady 80 fps. Still worried I felt sick earlier that day I started another session with the increased framerate to match my VR headsets frame rate. I didn't stop racing until 4 hours later.

The next day did another 3 hours session (still felt a bit sick but nothing too drastic). The same the next day with sickness. From the following day onwards I can constantly play for hours at a time doing donuts and crazy amounts of motion and it has absolutely no effect on me in terms of sickness. So yes it will take time don't expect it to be immediate, but the time you take to train your brain to accept your body not moving like it thinks it should, it's ENTIRELY WORTH IT!

 

[Rainman2020]

Yeah that's what I usually do. I have my monitor just to set up my game, SimHub, do my mods on AC and normal PC use. Once I set up the game in AC, I'll pop on my VR headset, use my wireless keyboard to press start and away I go. If you found yourself needing to use the PC while the headset is on, you can just pull up Virtual Desktop using your VR controller and it will bring up your PC while you're in VR which you can control using the VR controller so you don't even need the keyboard. So you don't need to use your PC again you can just be the entire time in VR. You can do that from the start too if you really wanted After that I usually exit the game, take off the VR headset and go to my monitor and save/replay the video in the max resolution single screen in AC for the best replay graphics recording and PPE. So really you only need a really basic monitor if you're not really gonna be gaming on it.

VR legs take time. I've been into VR for 6 months and the heavy locomotion games were tough at the start. You build up session time and use aides. 15 min, 20 min, 30 min, 40 min etc. Chew anti nausea ginger gum, have a fan on you while you're playing (I still do this each session). All this helps.

I stopped playing with my VR for about 2-3 months because I got into COD. When I got my sim rig I popped it back on and played PC2 in VR. I felt sick after about 30 min of playing so I stopped. A few hours later I jumped back on. Turned out I had the graphics too high so it was only playing at 40 fps instead of 80 fps and that low framerate can tend to make you sick. I turned down the graphics and got a steady 80 fps. Still worried I felt sick earlier that day I started another session with the increased framerate to match my VR headsets frame rate. I didn't stop racing until 4 hours later.

The next day did another 3 hours session (still felt a bit sick but nothing too drastic). The same the next day with sickness. From the following day onwards I can constantly play for hours at a time doing donuts and crazy amounts of motion and it has absolutely no effect on me in terms of sickness. So yes it will take time don't expect it to be immediate, but the time you take to train your brain to accept your body not moving like it thinks it should, it's ENTIRELY WORTH IT!

Decided to move the question you answered (i.e. can you play exclusively in VR without needing a monitor on the rig itself?) to a separate thread as i didn't want to hijack this thread. They are related questions though and a very relevant question to someone just building their rig and wanting to use VR as much as possible.

Super helpful response though Cosmo! Would be very happy if i didn't need to buy another $400 monitor and also a $200 monitor stand for the cockpit!

I also ordered the emeterm wrist band already to help with VR motion sickness and getting my VR legs built up.

EmeTerm

EmeTerm is a safe and effective anti-nausea wristband that prevents and relieves nausea and vomiting induced by motion sickness (while in a car, a boat, or a plane) and morning sickness (during pregnancy).

www.emeterm.com

I will get ginger candy/gum and also use a small fan too. Will take it slow, quit the moment i start to feel sick, take time off, repeat. Probably the #1 reason i got completely sucked down into this sim racing hole is that i want to feel like i am IN THE CAR. The idea of being IN Jim Clark's 65 Grand Prix car racing around Spa at 180mph sounds pretty friggin awesome! Note that i have NEVER used VR for anything before, and that i do get motion sick in general easily, so expect to deal with that some as i get used to VR.

Randy