Question for Rift users and techies in general...

Chris James · Dec 30, 2013

Is the Oculus Rift as demanding as a triple screen setup?

In my quest for sim racing immersion, I first bought a TrackIR, which is great for flight sims, but I never was able to hit a corner accurately unless looking straight ahead with it. So I saved and saved and bought 3 screens and a 7970. This works wonderfully, except that modern sims are too demanding to run 3 screens with anything but almost the lowest graphics settings, which I'm growing tired of. I can see the apex of even the tightest corners, but AC looks like rFactor. So, will the Oculus Rift be less demanding than Eyefinity?

Oh, and can you drive as fast with the Rift as without? Any other general advise about the Rift? Is it worth it? Is the 3D immersive or gimmicky? Did any of you go from 3 screens to the Rift, and was the loss of peripheral view too much to bear? That's one of my fears, not seeing the sides anymore.

AMD 1100T stock clock
AMD HD7970 3g
3 "40 TVs
Asus M4A89TD USB 3 Pro
12g 1600 DDR3

Thanks guys.

Turk · Jan 3, 2014

ThomasGocke said:
I think raising the resolution from 720 to 1080 is not enough, by FAR, I think it needs much more.

It's probably not enough (we'll have to wait and see if it's enough) but I suppose the cost of the unit goes up a lot and becomes difficult to work with as you'd need more processing power to deal with the extra resolution.

I suppose there's little stopping them from putting in two displays and they may do that in version 2, but for now I guess it's good to aim for something that's doable and use the money generated from that to make something better.

hazy · Jan 4, 2014

The Moog said:
Hazy,

Could you enlighten me about depth of field... great picture to illustrate DOF, but I can't see how the Rift can give you this. Both of your eyes are still focussing on a fixed screen (or pair of fixed screens in this instance) that give the impression of 3D, but focussing off this set focal plane will push everything out of focus will it not?

No idea how it's supposed to work really. I'm very curious and doubtful at the same time myself.

"What's curious here is that we're seeing a very proper approach to 3D to the point where you need to adjust your focus to concentrate on what's close to you, with the main view naturally blurring - an actual, natural depth-of-field effect, if you like." They also mention the immersion-producing lenses, maybe that's where the magic happens.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-hands-on-with-oculus-rift

Like I said, I only read about it.

Some here already have the Rift, maybe a clarification from them please ?

Chris Dawson · Jan 4, 2014

Thanks for the link Hazy,

I will take a look around and see what others have said, but I do not see how this can be true. The image that you are looking at is still produced by a screen (even though you are looking at it through a set of lenses) and so your eyes have to focus on that static focal plane at all times. If your eyes changed their focal distance, the whole image would go out of focus, not like in a real-life situation where when you shorten your focal distance you can focus on things closer to you.

I can imagine that the Rift might be quite good for 3D immersion as you are generating a stereoscopic image (just like with shutter glasses and a screen), but it cannot get around the fact that the whole image is still being generated on a defined focal plane. I can see that this might result in the same eyestrain/headache issues that people have with 3D films, where your eyes change their focal distance to try and see something in the distance, but no matter what they do they cannot bring it into focus as it is always rendered out of focus.

Chris James · Jan 5, 2014

Anthony Levene said:
BTW the Oculus implementation in AC is still broken. The scale is all wrong - I suspect they are not using the latest SDK as there is still a lot of drift which I don't get in iRacing or rF2.

Has anyone heard that Kunos is working on this? If I buy one when the commercial version comes out, It'll be mainly for AC. If Kunos don't intend to fully support it, It lessens my desire to own one.

Stereo · Jan 5, 2014

The Moog said:
I can imagine that the Rift might be quite good for 3D immersion as you are generating a stereoscopic image (just like with shutter glasses and a screen), but it cannot get around the fact that the whole image is still being generated on a defined focal plane. I can see that this might result in the same eyestrain/headache issues that people have with 3D films, where your eyes change their focal distance to try and see something in the distance, but no matter what they do they cannot bring it into focus as it is always rendered out of focus.

I imagine it's more about convergence distance - it's all in focus, but your eyes can only 'match' at one focal depth at a time, so everything else disagrees and fuzzes a bit. When you go crosseyed the inclination is to focus close, but you also use that to make sure your eyes look at the same thing. Might be a bit of strain if you're not used to doing that type of thing at whatever distance the Rift uses for its actual focus (if it's infinite focal distance, probably ok)

It's still a step closer to how we naturally see 3d of course so our eyes might be willing to play along.

Chris Dawson · Jan 5, 2014

As you suggest Stereo, I would imagine that the viewing convergence is set at near-infinity for comfort purposes. This is no different from 3D films, or static stereoscopic viewers (I used to have one of those Viewmasters as a kid that did the same thing), but the Rift includes motion tracking as well.

I would guess that any eye-strain issues may arise from a combination of convergence and focus that will not work in the pseudo-3D environment the same as they do in the real world.

Anthony Levene · Jan 5, 2014

I see a lot of "I Imagine/ I guess" going on in this thread. Honestly I don't think you can imagine what the rift is like until you try it

On a properly configured system I get no headaches, no dizziness, and have no problem focusing on different objects at different (virtual) distances...
Yesterday I spent 4 hours with the rift on, racing around Spa in iRacing with not even a hint of a headache...however after 2 laps in AC I was already feeling cross-eyed and dizzy because they are not using the latest SDK.
Once again the main issue for sim racing at the moment is the lack of resolution which prevents you seeing far enough down the track.

Chris Dawson · Jan 5, 2014

Hi Anthony,

The 'imagining' is because as you have correctly stated I haven't used one yet so don't want to make definite assertions about it until I have tried it

I do know how they work though, and have used other stereoscopic visualisation technologies that work on principles which are in effect the same (Nvidia 3D Vision is not dissimilar without the motion tracking) and so my 'guessing' is based on that and my basic optics knowledge. If you look back at my posts, the only doubt I had was picking up on was the Rifts ability to achieve lifelike depth of field from two planar displays as I am sure that this is not possible.

Any discomfort from using this type of technology comes from two areas, motion sickness from the difference of the movement of your head and the displayed image, and eyestrain from your eyes not being able to shift the plane of focus as it is predetermined and fixed. I was talking about the second of these, and people have differing levels of tolerance to both of them so may not be affected by either.

I think that the Rift is a very exciting technology, and although not a new idea (stereoscopic VR headsets have been around since the early 90's) it looks like a neat embodiment of the concept. I was just trying to clear up one area about what the technology can and can't do, and look forward to having a play with one when they become more widely available

Cheers!

cerebus23 · Jan 6, 2014

I kinda interested in them for this game, maybe starcitizen if that turns out well.

That and it looks to me like the headset is close enough to my nearsighted eyes to get away with not wearing glasses to wear and see with it.

Still want to see how the tech goes as the res goes up and the headsets get lighter and so on.

Stereo · Jan 6, 2014

Anthony Levene said:
I see a lot of "I Imagine/ I guess" going on in this thread. Honestly I don't think you can imagine what the rift is like until you try it

Unfortunately my prescription's much stronger than the lenses it comes with so I don't want to throw money at them until I have a chance to try a set and make sure it's either 'close enough' or works comfortably around my glasses. So yeah, would like a chance to try it out, haven't had an opportunity yet.