If you get airsick, carsick or motion sickness easily, you may want to experiment with VR carefully first.įor those flying combat flight sims against other humans online – there is also the problem of spotting small contacts – essential if one is flying with labels. This can be down to high latency (one reason why a powerful graphics card is needed) – but it also may be just bad luck. Secondly, the field of view (110deg) is not as wide as a human eye – at the moment it is akin to flying an aircraft using scuba goggles – (although oddly enough might be very realistic for WW1 flying goggles).Īnother challenge is that of motion sickness or nausea – which can effect some users.
BEST FLIGHT SIMULATOR VR PC
Unlike the Smartphone headsets to view VR videos on YouTube, both the Rift and Vive also need a powerful gaming PC with a decent graphics card (Nvidia GTX970 equivalent or better) to power VR in each eye. Firstly, it is not cheap – the Oculus is £595 while the Vive retails at £759.
LeapMotion allows tracked hand movements to be brought into the virtual cockpit. Headtracking sensors then pick up the headset in ‘virtual space’ – giving 1: 1 tracking. They render two slightly different images of the scene for each eye and trick your brain that you are seeing not a 2D screen but 3D reality. The two main headsets, the Rift and Vive, both work in the same way. However, the introduction of cheap, high-resolution smartphone displays and sensors, as well as more powerful PCs and graphics cards, now means that consumer VR is practical.įor those keeping an eye on tech news, it will not have escaped your notice that this year has seen consumer VR go mainstream with new headsets such as the Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and now the Playstation VR. While VR had been promised before, it was limited to professional, highly expensive headsets for military users. So it is no wonder that there was much anticipation in the flight sim community with the development of consumer VR.
BEST FLIGHT SIMULATOR VR UPDATE
TrackIR – a head-tracking update based on IR sensors then arrived and was adopted by flight simmers to allow them to use their head to control the camera view in the ‘virtual cockpit’. It was in the 2000s that PC flight sims started incorporating ‘virtual cockpits’ allowing users to pan around with keys or a joystick hat switch making it possible for virtual pilots to see all around the inside of the cockpit or flightdeck. Fly into fog or thunderstorms which envelop you all around and you begin to experience a sense of dread. Weather, which for 2D simmers is a factor but never feels intimidating, suddenly becomes much more threatening. Landings become easier thanks to the ability to judge height, and keeping the runway in sight in a circuit is doddle. “I wonder who lives down there?” “Where does that river go?” and “wow what an amazing sunset up here all alone above the clouds.” Looking down you get an almost perfect sense of how high you are above the Earth and you become mesmerised by the same thoughts as when you idly look out of airliner windows. All these fool the brain to think you are actually there and it is all you can do to not reach out and touch the instruments and controls in front of you. Looking around you can see behind the ejection seats or into the cabin. Little details stand out, like scratches or wear and tear. Suddenly you are aware how tight and cramped some cockpits are. This is virtual reality (VR) and flight simulation today.īut it is extremely difficult to explain the feeling you get when sat in a PC flight simulation cockpit or flightdeck in VR – and 2D screenshots and video really do not do the experience justice.
"Jesters dead!” Add ‘G’ and the smell of Jet A1 and my senses would almost be unable to distinguish this Top Gun fantasy from real flight. I’m still wired, triumphant and grinning like a maniac from ear-to-ear.
I’m sat in a chair, safe at home and have just beaten the hardest AI in DCS World in a 'MiG-28' (F-5E) in a 1 vs 1 dogfight. I roll level, sigh with relief and take off my Oculus Rift headset. The F-14 Tomcat bursts into flames and see two parachutes blossom far before. I quickly roll to put my nose on his flightpath – and squeeze the trigger. I pull harder and see the vapour coming off the wingtips and the wings flex, then I spot movement – a speck heading back my way. I grip the seat to peer further around behind my aircraft. I’m twisting in my seat, sweating hard, craning my neck high as the desert looms above me – lost him!!! I twist around the other side, scanning my instruments quickly – still no joy. TIM ROBINSON reports from the cutting edge of consumer flight simulation. Immersive, exhilarating, educational and even emotional – virtual reality is the Holy Grail of PC flight sims – giving the sense of flight like never before.
0 kommentar(er)
