Windows VR

Jdizzy42 · Oct 5, 2017

Hi all, I have been considering jumping I to BE lately, and was thinking I was going to get an Oculus.

Over the last day I have been reading up on the new Windows 10 VR headsets that will start to come out over the next couple weeks. They definitely sound enticing. They all have higher resolution, inside out tracking so no external sensors are needed, needs lesser PC specs, and are cheaper.

Microsoft have announced that they are releasing an OpenVR driver, and that by the holidays all the windows headsets will be Steam VR compatible.

I have no experience with VR, so I have no idea if this means they will work with all our favorite sims or not. Please let me know if they will, as if that is the case I might hold off a bit and see what the reviews for these new headsets are like.

Jeremy Ford · Oct 5, 2017

Once these Microsoft headsets get SteamVR support then they will work with all sim titles with SteamVR support. The lower system requirements are misleading, games demand GPU horsepower, it won't make sim titles run any better. Sim racing in VR is the most demanding of them all.

The higher resolution is a marginal improvement and from what I've read there isn't a perceivable difference between the Rift and Vive. Also the FOV is lower, except for the Samsung Odyssey. So that's the one to keep an eye on.

Jdizzy42 · Oct 5, 2017

Jeremy Ford said:
Once these Microsoft headsets get SteamVR support then they will work with all sim titles with SteamVR support. The lower system requirements are misleading, games demand GPU horsepower, it won't make sim titles run any better. Sim racing in VR is the most demanding of them all.

The higher resolution is a marginal improvement and from what I've read there isn't a perceivable difference between the Rift and Vive. Also the FOV is lower, except for the Samsung Odyssey. So that's the one to keep an eye on.

I get that the games themselves dictate most of the power. But I watched the Tested video where they tried them out at a Microsoft event. They reported that the resolution even on thrower models made a noticeable difference, and the Oddesey was even a little better then that. Though I guess better resolution also comes with the trade off of needing more power in the pc.

I figured the sims on steam would likely work, but how about something like Iracing? Do most sims, or any games for that matter use the OpenVR standard?

Jeremy Ford · Oct 5, 2017

Jdizzy42 said:
I figured the sims on steam would likely work, but how about something like Iracing? Do most sims, or any games for that matter use the OpenVR standard?

iRacing is on SteamVR. OSVR isn't universally supported by titles, but that's because there's only a single HMD using OSVR and it's sold as dev product, and there are no hand controllers. So why would most developers bother.

One thing, just because the Microsoft HMD's will have SteamVR support, it's still another proprietary platform, so game devs sill need to add this (Windows Mixed Reality) to their existing games. Since so many of these are coming to market this year would expect that won't be a problem.

Jdizzy42 · Oct 5, 2017

Jeremy Ford said:
iRacing is on SteamVR. OSVR isn't universally supported by titles, but that's because there's only a single HMD using OSVR and it's sold as dev product, and there are no hand controllers. So why would most developers bother.

One thing, just because the Microsoft HMD's will have SteamVR support, it's still another proprietary platform, so game devs sill need to add this (Windows Mixed Reality) to their existing games. Since so many of these are coming to market this year would expect that won't be a problem.

So as far as sims are concerned all pretty much work with steam VR? Any outliers I'm not thinking of?

Jeremy Ford · Oct 5, 2017

Jdizzy42 said:
So as far as sims are concerned all pretty much work with steam VR? Any outliers I'm not thinking of?

That's correct, but not all racing titles support VR. Steam lists VR support on the respective store pages on Steam. I do like the new Microsoft headsets but early adopters will be in for a wait while developers add support.