I would like to get into the VR world with DCS (for all items), Falcon BMS, IL-2 1946, IL-2 Great battles, IL-2 BOS, IL-2 BOB, Cliffs of Dover…etc etc (Not sure which ones can use VR).
I don’t know what mfg of VR equipment is best for me and my system.
My comp specs are I9-10900K CPU @ 3.70GHz, 64GB, Nividia Geforce RTX 3090. win10 pro
Some of the consideration in the headset is
Good eye resolution so that the cockpit has good resolution, good visual outside the cockpit,
Ease of compatibility to the games listed above. Is it just plug and play, - What level of tweeking is needed for the VR set to work with my computer / games. (I am not great in computer speak setting things up)
Not really worried about price, more worried about durablitiy.
How easy is it to use with a Virpil HOTAS, What do you do when you need to press buttons in the cockpit and the VR headset is on. ( As many of the buttons that can be binded, I don’t what to have to lift the headset to look for keyboard button) Is there a way to press button with a VR glove that works as you hands in the game) Something like this seems intersting, but I want to use my Virpil Hotas instead of a custom build that he did for the Oculus Quest 2 (You need to see this. This is my "NO HOTAS" flight sim VR rig designed around the Oculus Quest 2 VR - YouTube)
Probably more questions, but will find them as I continue my research here.
Also, what about motion sickness. I don’t know if I will suffer from this, but I don’t really want to go through all the trouble and expense to find out that I can’t use it because I get motion sickness all the time.
(and here is the dart being thrown at the dart board----I would like to try on before I buy,so if you live in the Toronto area (GTA or within driving distance of), would you PM me and let me try it.)
Not sure what it’s like in Canada, but here in EU you can order from most web shops and return the product within a month if you don’t like it.
Unless you have problems with Zuckerberg or the Chinese company behind TikTok seeing your house, I would start with one of the cheaper headsets: Quest 2 or Pico 4 are both comfortable headsets with good enough resolution.
Having fiddled a bit with the Pico 4, I guess the Quest 2 is a lot simpler to set up. The lenses of the Pico seem to be better though, and it is even lighter.
The Reverb G2 is best when you put some effort into custom configuration, has very grey “black” and has a tiny sweet spot with the bad lenses, but I think it’s still the next step up. At least in terms of price. Not in terms of comfort, lenses, or ease of setup.
After that, I guess the Quest Pro and/or Vive Pro, and for high-end VR, the Varjo Aero seems to be the one to go for but that is way outside the budget range that I have experience with.
Good question! I think that nearly everyone is able to enjoy VR, as long as you ease your experience into it. Start with some milder experiences, and stop if you start to feel a little queefy. With time, you’ll be able to enjoy virtual dogfights without starting to feel bad at all.
So there’s some options here. First of all, many headsets have a little nosegap. When you tilt your head backwards a little and look down so you can see your nose, you can look outside of this gap and see where you’re going with your hands in the real world. For me, this is more than good enough to get a plane started up with just the mouse. I personally have a pair of thrustmaster MFD’s, that I can locate purely from muscle memory. the combination of the throttle, stick and the MFD buttons is usually more than enough to fly any HOTAS/MFD plane. For planes that don’t have these, I usually bind the MFD buttons to common actions in the plane.
There’s also some other options. In DCS you can also assign a button (i.e. on your HOTAS) to left-click/right-click. This allows you to simply look at the thing you want to manipulate and press that button, basically hands-free. There’s some other things out there that can help with control of the plane in VR, such as pointCTRL, tobii eye or capto-gloves, but I don’t know anyone who has those and how good they are.
In my experience, getting the thing itself to work is quite some work. You need to place some sensors in your room usually, help it calibrate and stuff. You’ll need to follow some instructions and its going to take some time but you don’t need to be super computer tech savvy to get it done. Some things like the PDI setup is going to take some trialling and error until you get it set up so it works for you perfectly. In games itself, it is usally quite easy. In DCS you just have to go to VR tab of settings and enable it. That is all it takes, you’ll be taken to the DCS virtual hangar sitting next to a Su-27 (that thing is BIIIIG! in VR) with the main menu being projected in the air in front of you.
I have only ever owned and used a Reverb G2. Most people give them mixed reviews (for good reason), but for the price I would buy another one as a replacement. As @Freak said, the lenses aren’t great but the resolution is as good or better than headsets that cost twice as much. And, inside out tracking (no need for beacons/light posts) which was the better option for me since I use it exclusively for driving and flightsims.
Definitely try before you buy, if you can. It will answer this question at least.
In Australia we have game arcades where you can pay to play 3D games. Nothing like that in Toronto? Or, can you buy from a store that will let you return it (within a reasonable period).
Depends on how good you are at remembering what each button does I have a Warthog and try to bind the same function to the same button for all aircraft to make it a bit easier e.g. I use the same button for speedbrake regardless of whether it is a DCS module or a commercial aircraft in X-Plane 11.
I also use the mouse a lot in DCS and Voice Attack and between them I find that covers just about everything.
If you find a VR headset that is genuine plug and play, please let us know. As others have said there will be a degree of ‘fiddling’ to get it working how you like
Oculus/Quest seem to be good products. I was very happy with my Rift-S, and very happy with the Reverb G2 I replaced it with.
Regarding motion sickness, or rather vertigo (which can lead to motion sickness), I occasionally experienced some minor vertigo in some games initially (boneworks, TWD:S&S). I think the secret is trying to remember that the motion is not real so you don’t react to it and fall over, and small doses/short sessions if necessary. Now it’s been years since I’ve encountered anything, and my brain is pretty well trained that if it has a headset on to regard the visual/inner ear disconnect with a grain of salt.
Good to know! I only had a rift and pimax so I had to do these kind of things. The pimax had two options, integrated tracking (but only 3DOF, not 6DOF) or 6DOF with external sensors that required doing a proper set-up. I got a freebie reverb G2 from a fellow mudspiker which was known to have issues and I never got it to work properly.
All I can add is that you’re getting good advice.
I’ve had the Oculus Rift CV1 and the Rift S, the Reverb G2 and now the Varjo Aero.
By getting into VR you are adding a layer of complexity to your flightsimming and gaming. You are suddenly demanding twice as much from your PC, so you will need to lower your graphical expectations and lower your settings. You will soon want to upgrade your PC too
That said, VR is an incredible experience with flightsims.
Of the headsets that I have used, the Oculus (Meta) products have delivered the most user friendly experience.
Trying before buying is a good strategy, or buying from a shop that accept returns.
The IL-2 Great Battles work really well in VR. Another very cool VR flightsim is VTOL VR, that uses hand controllers for stick and throttle.
MSFS is very nice in VR and DCS performs better now, with the multithread update.
@jack72 That is basically all you need to know. However, one thing that nobody has mentioned so far is that once you have experienced a flight sim in VR; it is very, very hard to go back… if my G2 ever died, driving and flight sims would be on hold until the replacement had been delivered.
There is very good advice above already. I took things steady initially and got over motion sickness issues in a few days. I don’t think that should hold you back.
I’ve used the Valve Index and Reverb G2 on a PC with lower specs than what you list so all good there. The 3090 should serve you well.
I read here that the Varjo Aero is probably the best headset but I can’t speak to that from any personal experience. I’m extremely happy with my Reverb G2 and since I upgraded my GPU to an RTX 4080 don’t see a need to change the headset at all now. I’m getting a very smooth and pleasing experience in DCS and IL-2.
Harry is quite right, once you get flying in VR you won’t want to go back.
That struck me as an amazing statement. Honestly not something I thought I’d ever hear or say, but definitely the truth now!
[quote=“Snowy55, post:10, topic:15163”]
Harry is quite right, once you get flying in VR you won’t want to go back.
[/quote
I’ll second both of ye. I couldn’t go back, and in fact it’s kinda killed (or at least severely hampered) my flatscreen gaming in general. I only play 2D when I’m on the road and can’t VR.
I pretty much don’t drive or fly unless it’s in VR these days, but want to echo what @Troll said. None of them are perfect nor will meet everyone’s expectations, but the Quest 2 is probably the most accessible and will give you reasonably good performance for minimal investment. I would start there, and if you find the performance and/or experience less than satisfactory, you’ve minimized your financial and time investment. Good luck.
I have a Warthog and try to bind the same function to the same button for all aircraft to make it a bit easier e.g. I use the same button for speedbrake regardless of whether it is a DCS module or a commercial aircraft in X-Plane 11.
