Whats the status of simracing in VR in mid 2018?

[Christian Militzer]

I don't own a VR headset and did not follow the discussions about it regularly, but I am interested how the thoughts of the community are about VR in mid of 2018? From what I've read, some people really love VR, others don't and it seems that there is not really much progression on the VR market? I know some people are waiting on the second generation of VR headsets, but I didn't hear any news about it. Do you think there is still live in VR after the initial hype?

 

[BrainsBush]

A lot of good stuff about VR racing is already written.

The only thing I can add is: If I have to explain you wouldn't understand

 

[Mascot]

VR puts you IN the car, ON the track, AT the venue. It's all about immersion.
Pancake sim racing feels like avatar video gaming by comparison and I just cannot go back to it.
Yes, you'll lose graphical fidelity but this is more than made up for by the addition of 3D stereoscopic vision, you know - just how you view the real world. Objects occupy space with solidity in a 3D world and have scale, presence and proper separation. Distances can also judged more accurately and the sense of speed is unparalleled. Nailing apexes has never felt so satisfying.

VR is absolutely a perfect fit for seated sim racing. Even the headset and narrowed field of view helps to feel like you are wearing a crash helmet.

Since getting VR I've actually questioned how I ever got into sim racing in the first place. To me, 2D racing feels a little bit sh!t now. I guess ignorance was bliss.

 

[Boby Kim]

Most people go with a rift which is a fair bit cheaper. I'm on a 980ti overclocked and with ASW on the Rift enabled.

That is 1080x1200 @ 90 hertz per eye. So even a WQHD screen @ 160 hertz does not stand against VR?

 

[Boby Kim]

A lot of good stuff about VR racing is already written.

The only thing I can add is: If I have to explain you wouldn't understand

Oh...im sure VR is a amazing experience. I can't fly without my TrackIR. The problem is:
I want WQHD per eye at 200 hertz on 1 GTX 1080ti card for a total price of 1500 euro's, which can't be done as such configuration takes at least two GTX 1080ti's. The VR goggle itself will also cost about 3000 euro's.

 

[MarcG]

I've been running VR (Rift CV1) with my GTX970 since October 2016 and the experience is amazing, I cannot play on a flat screen any more (I do for testing purposes quite often and it's a painful experience!). The immersion is great, the visuals are poor compared to a flat screen but you get past them quite quickly.

Don't listen to those that claim you need to spend through the roof to be able to play VR, you don't, if you want the highest possible settings at a constant 90fps then yes you do but the 45fps with ASW is perfectly good enough for Sim Racing and I can have quite high settings with that.

Pimax are close to releasing their (not so) 8K headsets, they're like the Gen2 I suppose so it will be interesting to see what Oculus come up with. The Vive Pro which is a Gen1.5 is vastly overpriced and not worth the jump if you already own a HMD...unless you have the huge cash sum lying there doing nothing of course!

The future of VR is still a bright one but it certainly has slowed up a bit, this is probably down to not many Major Games Companies taking on the challenge, Fall Out 4 VR & Skyrim VR are two examples of what it needs to boost the progression but more is needed. I have a feeling things are going to improve in this regard in the next 12 months, apparently Oculus have something up their sleeve for their Show Case Event in September I think.

Edit:
I started a Poll a while ago on what Output device people use, VR is surprisingly high and now almost the same as Single Flat Screen users:
https://www.racedepartment.com/threads/what-display-output-do-you-use-for-sim-racing.145880/

 

[DW1]

Oh...im sure VR is a amazing experience. I can't fly without my TrackIR. The problem is:
I want WQHD per eye at 200 hertz on 1 GTX 1080ti card for a total price of 1500 euro's, which can't be done as such configuration takes at least two GTX 1080ti's. The VR goggle itself will also cost about 3000 euro's.

As has been said already, VR isn't really up to flight-sims yet, no matter how much money you spend.
Racing is a different matter though. An Oculus Rift and reasonable GPU costs considerably less than a good triple-screen setup. Don't assume the Vive PRO is typical of the VR market - unlike most "pro" products, this one really is targetted at the enterprise market - there are a lot of professional applications using VR extensively already, and they will gladly lay out a huge sum for a little extra resolution. Almost nobody in the consumer space is bothering with it.
Higher resolutions will arrive in consumer headsets soon enough, hopefully along with eye-tracking and effective foveated rendering, which should reduce the GPU requirements considerably.

But even now, the standard VR experience is a steal for the level of immersion you get.

 

[wajdi]

1000 euro's for a GTX 1080ti, Vive Pro 1400 euro. That is 2400 euro's for a VR experience

You don’t need Vive pro to have a very good VR experience. Vive pro doesn’t worth 1400 and it isn’t that a worth upgrade over Vive or oculus rift. You don’t need either GTX 1080ti to. I have 580rx and it runs AC very well. So it’s 400$+500$.

 

[Pär Öqvist]

VR is superb for flight simulations but not for competitive dog fighting of course where spotting small dots kilometers away is crucial. But awesome for sightseeing or the experience. It´s even stronger then simracing due to you tend to look around a lot more.

Also outside pinball, flight and racing there is some awesome roomscale or even sitting VR titles. There is no monster budget titles but roomscale is even more impressive and jaw dropping.

 

[maelstrom]

VR is superb for flight simulations

Don't agree. In most cases you need to manually zoom-in to all but the most basic of instruments to read them accurately and scenery is just a little too fuzzy too be able to navigate visually (or even just for sight seeing) - both are a big immersion killers. The initial wow-factor faded for me fairly quickly because of the resolution trade-off.

 

[MarcG]

I've had immense fun with War Thunder in VR so personally I'd yes basic Flight Sims are more than playable, I did try some of the more advanced Flight Sims and they seemed to work well enough but I lack the knowledge to properly operate them so I just flew about the landscapes which was nice!

 

[Pär Öqvist]

Don't agree. In most cases you need to manually zoom-in to all but the most basic of instruments to read them accurately and scenery is just a little too fuzzy too be able to navigate visually (or even just for sight seeing) - both are a big immersion killers. The initial wow-factor faded for me fairly quickly because of the resolution trade-off.

I find issues with only far objects. Objects up close there is enough pixel budget to make everything easy to see. I have actual no issues with focus on my Rift. Sweetspot got larger since I switched to thinner face inserts just the limited pixel budget that limits the spotting capabilities. But if you are not dogfighting that doesnt matter

 

[MarcG]

Interesting for the Stattos:
https://www.roadtovr.com/valve-monthly-active-vr-users-on-steam-are-up-160-year-over-year/

 

[Tim Meuris]

That is 1080x1200 @ 90 hertz per eye. So even a WQHD screen @ 160 hertz does not stand against VR?

Boby,

I tried the OR in different sims and liked it. You cannot expect the same imagequality but it's a tradeoff for more immersion. One that's worth it imo (for racing sims! dunno about flight sims).
When I update my pc I go for a setup supporting VR in mind.
Had to update too much on the one I have now so I can still use my triples some more.

 

[Deleted member 197115]

Interesting for the Stattos:
https://www.roadtovr.com/valve-monthly-active-vr-users-on-steam-are-up-160-year-over-year/

0.7%, 611k. Would be interesting to see the growth in the last year or two.