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!

 

[Scratch Face]

I would love to have the rift s. If you are willing to ship it at my cost.

Its the original oled rift not the S. If you’re interested I would be happy to ship it with all the pieces.

 

[Olijke Poffer]

I have a rift and I race in VR from time to time. There was I time I only played in VR but after I bought a triple setup I have a hard time to choos, pancake or VR. VR is so immersive but as the rift is one of the first VR device it has no high fidelity GFX. That is something I miss with my current VR set. I play in a res of 7800*1440 on my triples so that is awesome of course and it is runner up immersion wise. For Comfort and GFX I say triple screens. For immersion I say VR.

 

[Pazop]

The biggest shock of my life as a player. When I have the Oculus on my head and I found myself at Francorchamps I couldn't believe my eyes, already the size of the circuit, the interior of the car as in real life, it's stupid, but it is so surprising the first time. Then I realized that we see in real 3 dimensions, the real relief, as in reality. The only disappointment at that time is that I am nearsighted, but I can see very well up close, so I thought I could use the headset without my glasses, but in VR you can really see like in reality, and so i need eyeglasses to see far away on a racetrack, while the instrument panel i can see them without eyeglasses, like in real life! During the races, what a difference, I look at the apex, I look on my left at the guy I'm passing, what an immersion!
I went from CV1 to Rift S, big difference, better image, finished the grid effect, no dropout because cameras in the helmet, no longer need 2m side because more traking stations. I drive a lot on Automobilista 2, impeccable in VR, viewing away without any cliping, Assetto no problem either. To try at all costs, it changes everything. The evil of VR, I had it at the very beginning, but I held on and now I don't have it at all, even in reverse, the brain is a super computer, it adapts. For the eyes, I have not had any loss at all for 3 years, while I make visits to the ophthalmologist regularly. Definitely must try, you will not regret it.

 

[Serge.M]

Really surprised at the the don’t like it and never tried it numbers, really thought the numbers on those two would be flipped

 

[ao1977]

I said this in the „best simracing experience“ post a while back and I say it again: The first time I put on a VR headset and fired up my favorite sim was one of the most memorable moments in any of my hobbies. It let‘s you be part of what you see and do in a racing sim - it’s the epitome of immersion for me.

+1.

I still remember my first race start, it was Spa in AC. Heading for La Source, I thought to myself "Wow, I know I'll fit in that gap right there!", on normal screens it was merely estimating.

I needed a bit of training in the beginning to get to grips with motion sickness, but after a short time I was able to spend hours in VR.

 

[Neilski]

Funnily enough I also tried Spa (about a week ago) when I first tried a newly-acquired Rift CV1 in AC.

I had the same "wow" experience (OMFG how steep is that hill!) but my turn-ins were awful, I was about 8 seconds per lap slower, and the motion sickness meant that I only managed two laps. I'm very keen to keep trying (and am encouraged that most people seem to get past the sickness), but have been too busy with Alyx for the time being

 

[jkn87]

Maybe people know what they are missing but simply have no money, because on their country, a VR set costs more than five months of house rent.

Should have an "I tried, like, but can't afford" option.

Where a monthly rent costs 5 times less than the cost of a hmd which is around 500 euros one of those?

 

[Michael Payne]

If the game supports VR then I would use that over flat panel. VR is the reason I moved from Xbox to PC for Sim Racing. Was it loses in resolution it makes up for in immersion, and I really don't notice the pixilation that much. I use a Samsung Odyssey and once I am in a race, it really does feel very realistic, even the weight of the headset make you feel like you are wearing a helmet.

I just wish the performance in ACC was better. I can play on VR Epic setting but much beyond that and it struggles. Any other VR title I can set to Ultra settings. Heat and eye strain are probably the biggest problems for me. I had to get a Wind Sim to blow enough air to keep cool, especially in summer, and I probably don't race for more than an hour continuously without a break, whereas with a flat panel I can play for hours at a time.

 

[Gui Azevedo]

I have a CV1 for 2+ years now. I have been upgrading my PC and currently I can make it to run at 90 fps most of times, which feels considerably better.
It's still a mid-range PC, though.
For me, as a simracer, immersion is everything and there's no other thing I've tried that can get even close to the VR experience, in that regard.
Screen-door effect, narrow FOV, none of these things bothers me much.
Sure it's not the most practical thing and, in the summer, things do get hot and uncomfortable. I hardly race during Summer ( living in Portugal, that means some straight months but, hey, the weather is good to ride my bike, go to the beach, etc).

Very few experiences made such an impact on me, tech wise:
- The first time I fired up the Timex 2048 my dad gave me when I was a little kid,
- The first time I saw a PC (286?) running Hot Run in a CGA monitor, on a friend's house;
- " " " I played on an Amiga, on my dad's friend house ( man, that was insane! What a machine! My dad bought one 2 months later)
- When I got my CV1, fired it up and found myself inside a Ferrari 330 P4. Pure Magic!

I've gotta say that , for the first 3 months or so I refrained myself from using VR, simply because I didn´t want to lose that magical feeling, as things become trivial with constant use.

That wow effect has now gone but it's still a unique experience.

For all of you that never had a chance to try it, I really hope you can find a way to experience it. It's not for everybody, but it really can be a game changer.

 

[Jugulador]

Where a monthly rent costs 5 times less than the cost of a hmd which is around 500 euros one of those?

In Brazil this 500 euros HDMI costs R$3188,87 plus 60% or import taxes (I will ignore all other import costs and intermediaries fees) you have to pay R$5102,22.

The 2020 average wage goes around R$2.261,00, but the country is very economically unequal, so more than 80% of population have salaries around R$1.200,00 or even less (the minimum wage is R$1.045,00 for an 40 working hours week).

In São Paulo, that is one of the most expensive cities in country, the monthly rent goes like this:

More expensive on left column and cheapest on right. And those are just A-Grade districts, that are over the average USA level of development (Mooca, for example, is North of Italy grade of HDI).

Most of Brazilian territory you have under R$1.000 rents. Not rare going under 800 or even 400 (on very underdeveloped regions).

And I'm not even counting the cost of VGA or other stuff that can run this screen/VR set.

 

[blekenbleu]

I don't understand what you mean by "far vision" - can you explain?

For monitors roughly arm's length away, eyes are focusing there,
rather than thru a windscreen at the track and/or other vehicles.
This provokes cognitive dissonance in some folks.
Meanwhile, optics in VR HMDs (e.g. Odyssey) allow eyes to focus nearer infinity.
Those who wear corrective lenses tuned for monitors
quickly discover that they are not ideal for VR...
Distance prescription lenses installed in an Odyssey+,
along with its adjustable pupillary distance and head tracking,
make VR driving for me far more relaxing during long sessions than using a single 30-inch monitor with eyeglasses, only just wanting higher resolution, for which I'll wait until G2 issues are sorted.

 

[Deleted member 197115]

In other words, works better for far sighted folks.

 

[metalnwood]

For monitors roughly arm's length away, eyes are focusing there,
rather than thru a windscreen at the track and/or other vehicles.
This provokes cognitive dissonance in some folks.
Meanwhile, optics in VR HMDs (e.g. Odyssey) allow eyes to focus nearer infinity.
Those who wear corrective lenses tuned for monitors
quickly discover that they are not ideal for VR...
Distance prescription lenses installed in an Odyssey+,
along with its adjustable pupillary distance and head tracking,
make VR driving for me far more relaxing during long sessions than using a single 30-inch monitor with eyeglasses, only just wanting higher resolution, for which I'll wait until G2 issues are sorted.

Thats not quite right.

Many large simulator installations have collimated displays where the effective focal length is infinity to match how the eyes are focused in those real situations.

VR headsets don't do that and while I don't know the focal length of the odyssey, many are 2M or less. The DK1 had a collimated display though.

 

[roadyroad]

There is one choice missing --> I tried but no i can`t because of motion sickness

Seriosly i tried but after about 30 seconds i almost vomit on the floor

I felt the same at the beginning, driving in Dirt Rally, and really vomited! Twice! Yes, rallying is not the softest way to start with VR...

After that awful experience I got used to VR and since then the rest of my simracing VR has been pure pleasure.

In the results, it is obvious there are only 2 main categories, those who haven't try VR and those who need VR...

 

[Mark E Taylor]

I’ve used VR for maybe just over a year now.( HP Reverb G1) and haven’t used flat screens for sim racing since. I had to upgrade my pc to. 1080ti and a i78700k more ram etc etc,but I do love it.
The one thing I’m not sure about is the affect it has in your eyes? I’ve noticed my eye sight has started getting worse lately. I’ve no idea if it’s because if VR or if it’s just me getting older? But a few friends have mentioned that surly it can’t be very good for your eyes? No one ever seems to mention this whilst talking about VR.

 

[oliver65]

I had the pimax 5 k for a month.

+ the feeling of up and down is much better as on2D screen. I was surprised on some tracks, how strong down the street goes
+ you can look around in the cockpit
+ the sideview to the competitor is really nice

0 the apex is for me in VR not much better then on triple

- I got sickness (more or less) after 30 minutes (I also drives with a seatmover which should make better)
- It's hot under the VR-Glass and not a well nice feeling
- Thats my main issue! The bad quality. I'm a big fan of graphic quality and enjoy well designed cockpits. So, I dont drive cars with horrible cockpit quality. And the difference to my 3 x 32" 144Hz is too big. With VR it looks all like toys. I have the same feeling sometimes in a 3D Cinema. Also you see pixels what you on a 2D Screen dont have.

I will try VR later, if the quality makes a big step forwards and hope that the nausea will be reduce with the time.
VR vs. single screen is not a fair comparison, but VR vs. big Triple there are plus and minus.

 

[Fat-Alfie]

The one thing I’m not sure about is the affect it has in your eyes? I’ve noticed my eye sight has started getting worse lately. I’ve no idea if it’s because if VR or if it’s just me getting older? But a few friends have mentioned that surly it can’t be very good for your eyes? No one ever seems to mention this whilst talking about VR.

The lens is very close to your eye, but you do not focus on the lens, but through it. The lens allows the eye to relax and focus on a virtual image that is effectively many metres away. If you have ever used a microscope, or telescope, your eye is right up against the lens even though you are looking at something that could be several cm or km away.

I bet your eyesight hasn't deteriorated - it's just that real life looks crap once you've experienced VR (jk)

 

[Tim Meuris]

I’ve used VR for maybe just over a year now.( HP Reverb G1) and haven’t used flat screens for sim racing since. I had to upgrade my pc to. 1080ti and a i78700k more ram etc etc,but I do love it.
The one thing I’m not sure about is the affect it has in your eyes? I’ve noticed my eye sight has started getting worse lately. I’ve no idea if it’s because if VR or if it’s just me getting older? But a few friends have mentioned that surly it can’t be very good for your eyes? No one ever seems to mention this whilst talking about VR.

I asked this question myself very often. You are the first I read who's having serious doubts here as well. Anyone who knows more about this topic?

 

[Tim Meuris]

Oops ninja'ed by fat alfie

 

[metalnwood]

I asked this question myself very often. You are the first I read who's having serious doubts here as well. Anyone who knows more about this topic?

Pretty much as fat alfie explained above. There is an optic between your eyes and the display and this changes the characteristics of how your eyes see the screen.

In the case of many HMD's, the lenses have effectively put the screens 1-2M away from you. This is easier on your eyes as they dont have to use the muscles so much to focus at that distance.

That only leaves you with heat and if you believe there are some other 'rays' or something (5G????) that might be a concern with the screens being close. I don't think heat is a concern and as far as I know there is nothing indicating any radiation being a problem.

I think people are right to first query eyestrain etc of something close but the optics take care of that. Us older people probably cant even focus on a piece of paper only 8cm from our faces so this should help to prove that through a lens you are not focusing on something that is 8cm away.