Oculus Rift S - First Impressions

Posted this on iracing but might as well copy and post it here if it helps anyone, or anyone would wish to add re their experience or other sims.

Really great upgrade, I wouldn't want to go back to the rift OG. Seeing things I never saw in my CV1. Stopped on the track to check the distance you could pick braking boards out with real clarity, between 200-300 ft, pin sharp as you go between markers, that alone makes a huge difference, and that was tested at Watkins Glenn with the little white on black boards at the end of the first straight. All the onboard info, relative etc, crystal clear, just takes a glance now, no leaning in which I had to do previously, same with in car dashes.No real sense of a sweet spot anymore though that clearly still exists, and SDE pretty much gone.

Going round belle island was a joy with all the billboards sharp and clear. Best thing I can probably describe is in replay mode, previously it was fine, but mid distant objects and far were more 'well I know that's a tree'. Now they are clear trees. Is it a 1080p rendition, well not quite, but not so far short now that it's going to bother you given the immersive bonus of VR. There is a ton of extra detail to enjoy and things I'd never seen in VR before, from the clarity of grandstands, signage and car detailing, to waves on water and the rendering of grass. Any brake marker you want now you can have.

The sound is not too bad. I tried it with some Cooler Master MH751's and given all the extra fuss of separate headphones, I'll stick to the in build speakers for now, bright and crisp like the displays, though it will definitely annoy sound buffs. The spacial audio is also much better on the S with the build in than on the Rift OG. It gets the job done to start with, possibly better for some VR experiences, but if you want the real gruff sounds then headphones required.

It's a definite upgrade, I'd say a worthy one, and it's no more taxing on the GPU meaning you still have all your headroom for the other aspects of image quality, AA, SS etc.

Absolutely zero change in the experience going to 80hz. Great if you wear glasses too. Tracking perfect. Zero light bleed in the headset and yet to get foggy for some reason. FOV feels slightly wider to me, but it's marginal, certainly felt wider in tin tops.

Very very happy with it, VR feels right now, not just an impression of a great experience. Top upgrade for 400 in my opinion and a sensible path while waiting for VR 2.0. Don't get mega hyped that you are suddenly going to be in the VR world of your dreams, it takes a few hours to understand the delights of the S, but it's way more than a side upgrade and is a great fit if you don't want to upgrade your PC. Solid improvements, really big impact. Highly recommended on first impressions.

NB the only other game I've briefly tested in is rF2, and I have to say it's a bit of a game changer in that too.
 
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Audio has completely packed up on both sides in my CV1 after three left-side losses and RTMs. I don't want to upgrade my PC hardware (980ti/6600k) so the Rift S seems like a good upgrade. I only use the headphones for Crew Chief so the poor audio isn't really an issue, but I run an SFX-100 motion system and have concerns about the IO tracking. Can you expand a little on your experience with the Rift S and your motion platform?
Hi
Before the Oculus S I had the CV1 and with my PT motion system it worked good. The sensor was mounted on my rig over the steering wheel.... with the CV1 I had to run the motion with a less aggressive profile because with aggressive profiles I was having some tracking drifting( cockpit view was jumping up/down) and I found my self using the recenter key 2-3 times every lap .
Before buying the oculus S someone told me that the inside/outside tracking won’t work with motion because you won’t have the sensor on the rig like the old CV1, but my friend from Indonesia who has PT motion system has the oculus rift S and he told me that it works perfectly even with aggressive motion profiles he didn’t have any tracking drifting... so I ordered it and with my pleasure and surprise it works perfectly. I have it since November and I didn’t have to use the recenter button anymore.
I like the oculus S, better resolution, less SDE... I have the 2080ti/i78700/16GB
with rfactor2 I have almost a steady 80fps, high graphics setting? SS-160%, AA-3 and no PP.
 
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Right guys, I am picking up a Rift S tonight, I won't be able to test as I am still waiting for my new rig. So I have heard its visually a lot sharper, headphones are pants though. So I plan to use my bluetooth overear headphones but continue to use the Rift Mic.

Does the Rift S need more compute power over the CV1?
 
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Right guys, I am picking up a Rift S tonight, I won't be able to test as I am still waiting for my new rig. So I have heard its visually a lot sharper, headphones are pants though. So I plan to use my bluetooth overear headphones but continue to use the Rift Mic.

Does the Rift S need more compute power over the CV1?
No.
 
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Right guys, I am picking up a Rift S tonight, I won't be able to test as I am still waiting for my new rig. So I have heard its visually a lot sharper, headphones are pants though. So I plan to use my bluetooth overear headphones but continue to use the Rift Mic.

Does the Rift S need more compute power over the CV1?
In my opinion, no you don´t, you would be aiming at 40fps instead of 45, but having more native resolution meaning you don´t have to pump up pixel density in order to have a sharp, quality image.
That´s my experience using a GTX 1080.

Enjoy ;)
 
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I'm pretty happy with my rRft S, I upgraded from an Acer WMD headset, and it was a quantum jump. But the sound: no, no ,no. It sounds like someone playing a cheap transister radio 100 meters away on the beach. As a musician I found it pretty unuseable. and then by chance I found a video on YT and found this. For anyone else who thinks that the onboard sound is dreadful, here is the solution:

I converted my Rift S over christmas, it only takes a few minutes and sounds fantastic.
Well worth the money :thumbsup:
 
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In my opinion, no you don´t, you would be aiming at 40fps instead of 45, but having more native resolution meaning you don´t have to pump up pixel density in order to have a sharp, quality image.
That´s my experience using a GTX 1080.

Enjoy ;)

Thanks, I tried it last night and wow its so much clearer and sharper! I still have the pixel density at 1.5 in the Oculus.ini, have you turned this down since moving to the Rift S?
 
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I got a Rift S the other day. It's not quite as comfortable as I thought it would be, but still miles ahead of the quest. PSVR is still the king of comfort. I think I must have a massively bulbous head though.

I feel that the headset balances nicely between quality and performance. The resolution is high enough to be a legitimate upgrade from a CV1 or Vive but not so high that you need a ridiculous computer. The refresh rate is fine (I'm even happy with the Quest 72hz although it got a bit choppy in ASW. All in all I'm pleased enough although the cable isn't brilliantly balanced.
 
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I use the soundkit from Kabatec, you can find them on the bay of thieves. Sennheiser loudspeakers, excellent cable management ( they plug into the mini Jack on the headset itself), and they're very comfortable. They cost €139, but the Sennheiser studio headphones they use for the conversion are not cheap. Well worth the money, they're the dogs danglies
Edit: I've just seen that I recommended them in January last year, silly me. It's so long ago, I'd quite forgotten about it.
 
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