Just to be clear: I am not knocking the experience of VR itself. It's just that - for me - it's not yet "700+ bucks worth of immersion". I might even change my mind should the Rift/Vive drop to around 300 bucks and no replacement yet in sight.

Next gen VR will most likely have better resolution, better (=even lower) latency, larger field of view, better game/sim support (better optimized for VR, without the need of 3rd party software to deliver smooth framerates like you'd need with P3D). Oh, and Star Citizen might have been released by then as well.

Ditto. I've played around with a bit of it and right now it's like early 3D films--lots of "wow" but little depth.

I'm sure it will get there some day, but I don't know if I will ever want to go there. Putting on a hat for TIR sometimes deters me from flying a sim if I'm not in the mood. Some days, I'm not even in the mood to wear my headphones and I'll play certain games with no sound.

Big old headgear for VR is just not going to make me spend more than 15-20 minutes with it nor $500+.




The Jedi Master

I like your optimism

Haha!! Indeed, these are the early stages. Teething pains, baby steps.

I guess the biggest problem is that I live in Iowa and there is no where close that has a demo of either unit. To try it before buying is a big plus but not possible.

Find an online store with a good return policy?

Edit: well, on second thougth, you probably can't open the box if you'd want to return it

I've actually been thinking lately of some questions for recent VR tech owners that have me curious. Have you indeed felt or have come away with a feeling of "I can never go back to traditional monitors?" Since most things don't utilize VR it would be weird and unfortunate to start having that "wall" destroyed for you when you try to go back and play your other non-VR games.

Also, have any of you had had dreams or know of anyone who's had dreams, good or bad, because of the impact of recent VR technology? Can you imagine playing something like Soma or Resident Evil in VR? Seems to me that those games married with VR could really get into your psyche in a bad way.

For flight sims, yes indeed. I can say that I will not go back to flying on a 2D screen if VR is available. It really is that good.

No dream issues here, although I could see it being a problem if they ever come out with an official VR version of Alien Isolation : .

Not really. For example, in Elite Dangerous, it's so much fun and immersive in VR, but the detail and beauty of the space stations are lost due to the "lower image quality" of VR. Pew-pew space combat is cool in VR, but trading would be a pain. There are some trading tools that I can use that can pull data off a screenshot; obviously, this will not work with VR. Even without the tools, if I needed to "take notes," it would be a pain to do so with a VR headset on. I'll probably fly as much as I can in VR, but I'll still have to go to normal monitors for some things.

I was getting very close to buying a used Rift when I started to wonder if I could even see the lenses. I am older now and my very close vision is blurry,,,like if I put my hand in front of my face it is way out of focus so I have to move it about half a foot away to see it correctly.

From those that have VR can you tell me if the lenses are very close to the face? Do they focus close or do they focus farther away then they really are? Not sure how to ask this and hope it is not a deal breaker. I can, and do, use small reading glasses for up close work - would these fit into the headset?

The Vive has an adjustment knob to move the lenses closer/further from the face and yes, I've tried them with my glasses on. However, these are for "normal" eyeglasses that sit right close to your face... reading glasses, the ones that sit further down the nose obviously would be awkward in VR. Do you wear varifocals?

Do you need to wear glasses using VR if you're nearsighted?

Warbirds, I think you will be just fine. I wear glasses for distance (i.e. I am short sighted) and I ended up buying some prescription lenses for the Rift from a company called Lens Lab. But if your distance vision is ok then you are good to go. One of the 'magic' things about VR is that focus seems very natural as does depth perception.

I'm nearsighted... but I've never tried them without glasses or contact lenses on. My son's nearsighted too and he says it's fine without glasses.

Optical length is about 4ft. You won't need reading glasses.

I use reading glasses under my Vive headset, they help a lot.

I love the Canadian stylist. She's great.

rift resolution is not very high, but for certain games there really is no going back once you've flown with VR.

I can't imagine trying to fly FSX without a rift anymore. The situational awareness just increases so much when you're able to look around freely just as in the real aircraft. You are not pegged to the little screen on your desk. The world gets a lot bigger, and your landings tend to improve because you can judge height far more accurately in the VR world than on the flat monitor.

Flying helicopters in DCS is also completely different, but DCS needs a very beefy computer and graphics card to run smoothly at decent settings. FSX is a lot less demanding on the graphics card but needs a strong CPU.

I found the VR to be just average for most of the aircraft in DCS, but for certain aircraft it really changes the way you feel and fly. Low flying aircraft seem to receive the biggest benefits, when you are closing with terrain you will feel a real sense of panic building in your gut that just doesn't happen when looking at a flat monitor.

I bought both the Vive and Rift as soon as they were available. Played Elite, Aces High, DCS, ONward, and pretty much every flight sim and driving game that VR will work with.

It's great for some things, but for PVP combat, you're at a huge disadvantage vs those using TrackIR or thumb hats, in terms of keeping your threats in sight, and doing rapid SA checks. Come fly Aces High or DCS vs any good pilot with VR and you'll see what I mean.

Also, the targets/planes are SO small and have poor detail in DCS, wiht labels off in online servers, it's far, far harder to spot threats in VR IMO.

I am hooked on Project Cars and was getting Vr for that if nothing else.