Hey all,
I have been seeing a lot of youtube video's with Track IR with you guys and my question is, is it really worth it? I mean my fear is its going to work (well) just for this game and not many of my other sim products(EECH namely). What issue's have you guys had? Do you have to really crank you neck to look left right etc and still keep your eyes on the screen? And what size monitor would you guys recommend I use with it? (I currently have 22")

Thanks!

I started out trying to use only the face tracker, then upgraded to a home made LED rig using freetrack and PS3eye... My wife bought me TIR5 for Christmas last year and it made a SIGNIFICANT difference.

To answer your question about virtual head movement... I've found much more range of motion, along with precision on TIR over the free versions. You can set it up to easily move over 360 degrees, and keep a sweet spot around your instruments to allow fine movements when needed.

Using head tracking in DCS in (in my mind) a must. Your SA is increased substantially. Its a plug and play solution, while the free 'diy methods' are very cumbersome and take some intellect. More people use TIR, so there is more support on these forums if you ever ran into an issue.

Monitor wise, I use a 24 that is gorgeous... I think its more a matter of personal preference, but i'd rather have a 24 that looks amazing than a 42" that is not sharp/grainy/off gamma/off hues(fill in the blank). YMMV.

I've tried freetrack and a webcam with a bit of floppy disk material as an IR filter and TIR works so much better. I like the active IR clip but it means I have to wear the headset as that's where its attached. On the plus side with the active IR clip I can crank the light threshold way up so people could carry lit candles behind me all day and no distract the sensor.

Sensitivity is entirely configurable in all six axes for games individually. I don't like the sharp curves that come default. You probably never turn your head more than 30 degrees from front. It takes about a day to get used to it but soon you'll be turning your head in games that don't support it.

I have a 22" monitor (flanked by 19" on each side but even without those) and it's plenty. 24" is better of course but not necessary.

and also while watching youtube videos

You don't have to crank your head to see behind you. The curves are completely configurable so you can have a small IRL head movement translate into a large movement in game. Mine is set so that a degree of IRL head movement, at the
limit that still allows me to see the whole screen = a full, 180 degree rotation in game. It's something like a 1/3 IRL/in game ratio. An you can make it as fine or coarse as you feel comfortable with.

Oh, and it's definitely worth it I you play flight sims. Once you start using it, you won't know how you ever got along without it.

I wouldn't fly or race w/o the Track IR (although for racing I only used the left/right axis, not the up/down).

http://simhq.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/3171177/DCS_A10C_Warthog_A_TrackIR_Pro#Post3171177


If for some reason Track IR is not running when I start a sim, I'll exit out and start the Track IR -- it is that important/great.

WC

+1
TrackIR is absolutely MUST HAVE.

I'm one of the newer TrackIR owners on here, I think at least. I got mine for my birthday in 2012. Totally worth it. Tilt your head side to side when you first get it, and see it match in the sim, it will instantly settle any doubts if you were looking using hat switches like I was. Heck just being able to add trim using my right thumb (I had been using the arrow keys) was a huge deal for me.

Amazing - cant recommend TIR enough for flight simmers

If you would rather enjoy the sensation of looking at the virtual world through the tip of your thumb, then you should stay far away from TIR5.


Honestly- it changed my life... so much so I bought one for the GF so we could fly / sim together. (read: so that we could fly together and she would stop guilting me to give mine up...)

100% worth it. It really rejuvenated my interest in flight sims

I have the version where you place a 3 reflector oragami-type thing on a baseball cap. I get lots of laughs from family members but I don't care, would not trade it for anything.

^^ agreed ^^ I use the hat clip, simply because it was free and it works so well that I've never considered the pro clip. Both of them look goofy as heck.

Ok, definitely going to invest in one of these bad boys then lol Track IR 5 here we come lol

Good decision. You won't regret it.

You will not regret it.

-C-

Yep, what they said ^
It will rock your sim world.

After so many years with TrackIR, it's hard to believe there are still people simming without it. If you told me you play flight sims without a monitor I'd only be slightly more surprised...

...yes...

Haha I thought I was the only one who did this!

Yeah I've totally never done that watching an A-10 video...okay I do it every time.

To the guy asked about TrackIR yeah man it is totally worth it. wish they'd add support for in Train Simulator

It is most certainly a must have.

Must have!!

Yep!

Yes!

Never leave the airbase w/o it!

WC

It's like asking if having a monitor is worth it.

Best flight sim related purchase I've made in my 17+ years of flying.

Most def. Don't leave home without it.

A small tip: Recently I added a small clear "lens" shape cabinet door bumper to the lowest projection of the TrackIR Pro Clip. This causes the IR LED to be see at greater angles than normal. Up until that modification I had trouble looking down and to the left as the recessed IR LED would stop being seen by the TrackIR camera. The clear plastic adhesive extension applied on top of the IR scatters the light through a wider arc and now I can look down-left with confidence.

Totally worth it. I've shut down DCS despite the long loading time (with my old rig) and restarted it just because sometimes I forgot to turn it on...

Can't ever play without any more.
For me though the time necessary to be proficient with it was a couple of weeks, but every onr knows I'm a thick italian...

OP also mentioned EECH; TrackIR works in 6DOF with EECH as well. One nice touch on the Ka-52 is if you're sitting in the CP/G seat, you lean forward to look into the periscope!


EDIT: another thing that's often overlooked is that once you have TrackIR, you can free up that hat switch for its original purpose: trim. This makes you a better flyer as well (force trimmed helos notwithstanding).

Put it this way, I can NOT play DCS withOUT Track IR.