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!

 

[jermaineshakeandbake]

I usually use VR but lately have been back and forth since getting ACC, mainly due to either days when it runs like crap or if I'm in a funny mood and would rather just flat screen it!
Although you really cant beat that feeling in VR, especially getting alongside other cars, it really is something special if you have a decent rig!

 

[Kevin Troschinski]

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

 

[speedyx56]

I always drive in VR, first for the immersion and second because my main monitor is too far from my rig and putting a dedicated monitor on my rig would be hugely impractical. Using a Rift CV1.

 

[Kranky Pantz]

It's currently showing that 31.3% of the voters haven't tried it.
Wow!!!!!
You don't know what you are missing folks .
If you can, try it ASAP!!!

VR + Sim Racing (as well as flight sims) are an amazing combo if you have a capable PC and a capable stomach.

A motion rig or seat mover can help with VR motion sickness, but that's a whole other ball game.

 

[Badwheels]

I got an HP Reverb and tried it with RF2, ACC, AC, and PC2. My IPD was too wide for it but what I didn't like was heat, something tugging on my dome, heat, cables, heat. I only got dizzy once when I wanted to see what would happen if I whipped my head around at a gazillion miles an hour.

I am investing in the new 32", 4K-144hz monitors when they are released later this year or early next year. I would like to get either a RTX 3080ti or a RX6900Xt. But who the hell knows if we will ever see new video cards again.

Which brings me to a bitch point. Why do all of the "reviewers" use the same tired ass, kill a billion somethings games, when they baseline video cards and cpus ? I would love to see the sim racing games reviewed on the latest hardware to get and idea of what the capabilities are. Bitching over.

 

[bullet800]

It's simple: No VR, no game!

 

[Danny O'Neill]

I use it and for me it's the best thing to happen to certainly sim racing but in my view to gaming as a whole, I just can't go back to flat screen gaming, I even got myself a triple 144hz screen setup to see it that would be better and I got rid of it almost as quick because it just doesn't compete, the feeling of driving down the au rouge in vr side by side with another car and looking over at the other driver just can't be beat imho
also in fps it can't be beat eg wardust or contractors to name a couple your actually in the game it's just amazing. I just can't go back to pancake game now

 

[Cote Dazur]

VR 99% of the time and 100% when driving even half seriously. Game changer if immersion is part of the equation.
Worth investing in a good GPU to get decent performance, which I get, even in ACC, with a GTX 1080ti.

As VR googgles and GPU improve, all actual limitations are less and less of an issue.

To the 31% in the poll ( at the time I am writing this) who have not yet tried it, all I have to say is give it a go, you might get lucky like I did and start enjoying the best SIM driving you do not know exist.

 

[Gabyzen64]

I own an Oculus Rift S... I use it quite often when it's not hot, I never use it in the summer and if I have to say I'm very sorry, as it makes driving much more realistic and immersive.

 

[Gerard Hatfield]

I only used the Oculus Rift a few years back on iRacing and Dirt Rally. It definitely was an impressive experience but I couldn't get passed the "screen door" effect. I preferred a sharper image so went back to pancake triples.

Definitely interested to give the latest tech a go though.

 

[robopirate]

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.

I’ve been using the Rift CV1 for two years now and literally can’t go back to racing on screen. It made me quicker, gives me a much better feel for space on track and when combined with racing gloves and a decent racing seat it will protect your virginity forever.

Sure the graphics suffer and also it is quite expensive with all the hardware you need to run every sim on a decent level but for me it’s by far the best investment I made when it comes to simracing. I forgot about the less refined graphics after a minute, also the shallow POV actually feels natural, as if you were wearing a helmet. Also motion sickness never was an issue for me.

The pros outweighed the cons every single second I spent in VR. I can’t wait for the technology to improve further and hope all of you guys who never tried it get the chance to do so. It will blow your mind!

 

[MarcG]

Only ever use it for Sim Racing, I cannot and will not use Flatscreen as it just isn't the same any more. The Immersion I feel with my HP Reverb (G1) is just incredible (and was with my old Oculus Rift CV1), it's everything I dreamed of as a kid watching Tomorrows World in the 1980s!

I'm currently over 100+ hours into MSF2020, playing that in pancake mode hasn't been too bad, but I'm counting down the days for VR implementation as Flight Sims like Racing are born to be used in VR. Elite Dangerous & Star Wars Squadrons, again Space Flight Sims that are just incredible.

Finally meeting up with mates using BigScreen and watching the Football together because we can't in real life, now that's great fun in VR!

 

[eSTee3]

I use VR for any sim games (driving/flight) that support it. Even if you would have to turn everything down to "Low" in order to hit your HMD's framerate needs, it's immeasurably more immersive than anything else I use (I even have triple 32") and therefore allows me to be far more accurate and consistent.

 

[Paul McCluskey]

I'd love too be able too race others in VR , have the psvr for ps4 and you can't race no one else , but love it for gt sport, just hot lapping, or cruising and admiring the scenery and inside the cars. dirt rally is a must, so much fun, hopefully get too the point i can afford a setup in the future as it blows away non vr and is so suited too racing games.

 

[RadMobile]

VR + Sim Racing = The closest you can get to sitting in those cars, and being on those tracks, and its only enhanced with wheels, pedals, shifters, and motion rigs etc. VR literally puts you in the drivers seat.

IMHO It should be a "Standard" for all Racing Sims to have VR support optional to the users, as in sims like AMS2, ACC, AC, DR 2.0, etc. (some I've missed), so we have a great lineup already growing now.

I can't wait to see the future of Racing Sims + VR for when Gen2 VR and beyond rolls out though!

 

[homieffm]

I just wait for a better resolution, maybe gonna give it a try next year, there are some potential good options announced already. For now I just don't like the low resolution compared to a 1440p WQHD Monitor and the fact that you are sweating like hell under that thing/ I can't race that long xD

 

[The Iron Wolf]

My reasons for using VR is lack of physical space for a proper 3 monitor setup. You need to have peripheral vision in racing, so single monitor is out of the question. But also 3 smallish monitors will not do it either for me. That said, if I had space for 3 huge TVs around me I'd probably ditch VR for now, due to level of software support, which is quite minimal.

 

[CrimsonEminence]

Immersion wise, VR is the most astonishing thing, i have ever experienced in my gamer life in general. A good looking VR game fools you into trying to touch things and you better have some room and no open bottles standing around. (My first VR experience was drunken next to a table with glasses and bottles staying around...at least i don't suffer from motion sickness )

Side effects wise though, it's one of the most annoying things, i have ever experienced in my gamer life. Especially when it's summer. I would never do an endurance race with VR (the sweatxperience). Costs for a good worthy setup are still pretty high and even if i don't care that much about the slightly more mushy look and low FOV of some headsets (i would wear a helmet anyway IRL), so it's still the case, that even the higher FOV sets tend to blur in periphery.

Nevertheless, i would already have switched to VR, if it wouldn't still feel like an early adopter tech to me, unfortunately, as impressive, as it is.

(So "no, i don't like it" is not totally correct, but also not totally wrong, also thinking about renting a headset to play a bit of Raceroom, AMS2 or pCars2 with it, my gpu is too limited for more, i would expect, but this would be already more than enough)

 

[ARNOULD]

100% VR use + buttkicker. Realy magic!! I cannot go back to screen use.