tl;dr: No. The resolution is the same. I've tried both and decided for Oculus. If the Vive was more comfortable I'd go for the Vive I think. But the Oculus does well, and it doesn't fell like I've taken a bad decision. Wouldn't want to play ED without a vr headset anymore.
Oculus:
+ far more comfortable
+ integrated headphone and mic (vive has mic only and earplugs)
+ better suited for sitting, classical gameplay
+ price
- "smearing" lenses (so called "god rays" from bright to dark contrast look like smear)
- bad bad bad software*, I mean, really...
Vive:
+ better suited for standing, moving (room scale vr)
+ integrated camera (see environment within vr)
+ done for Steam-VR
- uncomfortable to me
- lenses more blurry than Oculus' at the edges
Experiences: When I put on the Vive the first thing I said was "there's something wrong, the lenses are all blurry at the edges." I got used to it after a minute, than it was pretty okay. The Vive has some decent tracking with no issues, works like a charm, but after 10 minutes it started to feel uncomfortable because of it's balance, I think due to the larger and heavier lenses. I didn't play ED with it, sadly.
The Oculus' first impression is "we need to clean the lenses". But it's not smear you're seeing, it's a permanent problem with "god rays", based on the lighter and thinner fresnel lenses. You get used to it, but sometimes you wish it away. You only see this effect on bright colours on a very dark background. Elite is "okay" with that effect. Another thing is that with one sensor, position tracking is not absolutely exact when you turn 90° or 180°. Anyhow, the Oculus is by far more comfortable. I can play a few hours without a feeling of headache (due to the weight). And you can buy "room-scale vr" in december, which closes the gap to the Vive (also in terms of tracking precision when turn around).
* they don't let you install the software where you want... dynamically partitioned hard drives? f-off, customer. Won't work. Their download tool checks things like this as states "Check your internet connection" instead of the actual issue. You have to re-partition and reinstall. The "Oculus home" shop system is, well... you wouldn't want to buy software there, not that it had too much content at all. But you can use steam and steam vr with the oculus, but need to run "oculus home" before you start steam vr, so this doesn't help you with installation issues.
All said here based on opinion and experience.
Indeed, it is like night and day.<snip>The "god rays" I saw initially were greatly reduced by simply figuring out how to fit the headset to my face properly (through adjusting straps, angles etc.).
<snip>
I've been playing Elite exclusively with my Rift since I got it several months ago - I have a GTX970 and a fairly old i7 (3820)/16GB RAM/Win7. Runs pretty much perfectly at 1.0x scaling w/SMAA and some tweaked options (most things on medium or high). I did have to put Elite on an SSD to minimise dropped frames/stalls (they matter way more in VR).
It's absolutely stunning. I've played 6+ hour sessions with no ill effects too. My DK1 by contrast would send me into a nauseated cold sweat in 10-15 minutes in the demos/games I tried.
The "god rays" I saw initially were greatly reduced by simply figuring out how to fit the headset to my face properly (through adjusting straps, angles etc.).
I say go for it if you've got the cash to spare - I doubt you'll be disappointed. I feel the headset has a lot of room to grow too - will work fine with your existing GPU, and will get better with an upgrade to a later generation - Elite looks vastly better with 2.0x supersampling (reduces shader aliasing for a start) but I hear not even SLI 1080s can handle it in VR... [knocked out]
The only thing I might be tempted to wait for if I was in the market is a (hypothetical) bundle deal with Oculus Touch when it comes out. The controllers are (IMO) one of the few things the Vive definitely has over the Rift - not that they matter specifically for Elite as-is.
Of you don't have it already, get Voice Attack, it is essential when you are playing in VR. Welcome to the club.![]()
*Cables to the HMD are replaceable. I hope I can stress this as much as an intense dogfight strains the connection point. This is actually my biggest love for the Vive in a commercial setting, and something I hope to see from Oculus 2.0. Also the Vive cable is a bundle of standard cables and the Oculus one is proprietary, but I digress.
Awesome feedback everyone, really appreciate it and btw i made my decision and bought the Rift so i will get it hopefully next week!
Now can i run it with Joystick and Keyboard or is there something else i need which iam not aware of?
Voice Attack is something i had in mind but thought it was optional not essential. well i guess one more thing is added to the list!
Don't worry, it's not essential at all. I even have a VA license somewhere from before VR or ED was a released. Played way over 2000 hours of ED (all in VR) and never felt the need to install it.
A minor point I'd like to address: The rift cable is indeed a proprietary HDMI+USB -> Proprietary Connector cable, but it is in fact also replaceable. Remove the padding assembly thing, and the cable pulls right out from its connector.
I haven't seen Oculus offering replacement cables though, but I'm sure as time goes on they may do.
Congrats. I don't think you'll regret it.
A good HOTAS setup will work wonders if you don't have one already, and I see you're looking into voice attack, so it sounds like you're all set.
Also, avoid the temptation to jump into EVE valkyrie with both feet like I did. It's not so much a mile wide and an inch deep as it is a foot wide and half an inch deep. Also I got sickening woozy VR sickness after my first go (its comfort level is "intense", i.e. "Will make your stomach wobbly until you're used to it). ED on the other hand is much much more comfortable and enjoyable with no hint of VR sickness of any kind for me.
As for Eve Valkyrie, well dammit i watched a demo from Eve online celebration and was looking forward to it but i guess i will follow your advice and start with ED first!
In the meantime MS just announced their VR headset with a price of 300$ for a basic version.
VR on a budget seems nearer than I thought.