VR Not Ready for Prime Time
- Thread starter Xintar
- Start date
I think it comes down to expectations though. If you are expecting the same texture clarity and resolution as 4K monitor, then you will be disappointed. And there is no denying the god rays, the narrow (compared to real life) field of view, and the general lack of fidelity of the image you are served in VR.
For me, all those downsides pale in comparison to the added sense of scale, the real depth perception offered by stereoscopic vision, and the head tracking allowing you to both rotate and move your view point. But I can honestly see why for others it may be a deal breaker. The second consumer generation of these headsets are going to be magnificent though, I am 100% sure of that
Someone who actually tried the Pimax 8K has some disagreement with you.
There is a guy, who had the possibility to test the prototypes of the Pimax 5K and 8K. He confirmed, that the picture is not stretched and you have the wide field of view in games without any stretching effects at the corners. Here is his summary on his impressions (sorry German language):https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOGnMGQ7gN4&t=134s
To make it short for the 8K:
- no stretching
- no screen door effect
- no god rays
- no ghosting or other effects of low frame rates
- clear picture with possibility to read also small texts
- quality of colors is good, brightness is good
- no problems with tracking
- controllers seemed to be of low quality, but those will be replaced by a new design
The biggest problem with all tech, something new is always coming
Exactly this.
At any given point you can say there will be better equipment in x months/years; and the stress we place on them will increase in kind.
The biggest problem with all tech, something new is always coming
Don't really see how advancement of tech is a big problem.
I'm interested in the Pimax 8k but i'm taking a wait and see approach. Once the production units are in the wild and get reviewed I may pick one up but for now I have some concerns. This is an interesting review on one of the prototype units. https://www.roadtovr.com/hands-pimaxs-8k-headset-proves-high-fov-vr-coming/ It seem there are a lot of good things but there are several negatives listed as well. I'm hoping they address most of the negative issues by the time it gets to final production.
After playing Elite for 3 years on a 2D monitor at 1440p with high FPS and ultra settings, I'm prepared to put up with these shortcomings. For me, it was either quit Elite until Beyond finishes in ~15 months time, or wipe my save and start again in VR. I chose the latter and loving it. So far, I don't regret my decision.
Re. OR continuous set-up, I get that message too. I just ignore it and my Rift still works fine.
thats fine, but.....you are missing out in the meantime in my opinion! If you can afford it, why not evolve with the technology?
Related to the Bold part- You and me, I'm not forking out anything for any Kickstarter anymore.
Well if one doesnt consider current vive or cv1 ready for primetime I can probably guarantee the Pimax is not going to be any different.
Personally I think this is merely halfway up the first climb on the VR rollercoaster.
Personally I think this is merely halfway up the first climb on the VR rollercoaster.
Actually OP, I respectfully suggest that realistically it is you who is not ready for VR, not that VR is not ready for Prime Time.
I use my rift all the time, and not only for ED; the only downside being that now, I never play any 2d games. On a monitor, ED, RF2, Project Cars and many other games are now just too boring and lifeless.
For the record, I used to be like you, waiting for tech to become better and cheaper. Fortunately, I now have sufficient resources to enable me to get the best tech available so, when the next gen Rift, Pimax or whatever comes out, I'll simply keep the current Rift CV1 as a spare, sell it (or more likely give it away) and then replace it with the newer, more advanced offering.
Many years ago I learnt a lesson about new tech: Take the risk or inevitably deprive yourself of hundreds of hours of enjoyment while you wait for it to pass you by. Gaming tech especially never stands still. You either pay for it or miss out.
High quality gaming was never a cheap hobby anyway. I remember buying an Atari 800XL in order to play Flight Simulator 2. The 5.25" floppy disk drive cost more than the computer and, with the monitor, the total cost was over £1,000 - and that was in the 1980s!
You will not be surprised that whilst respecting your opinion, I totally disagree with the idea of waiting, would actively encourage anyone who is able to get their hands on VR asap...and suggest you rework the title of this thread.
I use my rift all the time, and not only for ED; the only downside being that now, I never play any 2d games. On a monitor, ED, RF2, Project Cars and many other games are now just too boring and lifeless.
For the record, I used to be like you, waiting for tech to become better and cheaper. Fortunately, I now have sufficient resources to enable me to get the best tech available so, when the next gen Rift, Pimax or whatever comes out, I'll simply keep the current Rift CV1 as a spare, sell it (or more likely give it away) and then replace it with the newer, more advanced offering.
Many years ago I learnt a lesson about new tech: Take the risk or inevitably deprive yourself of hundreds of hours of enjoyment while you wait for it to pass you by. Gaming tech especially never stands still. You either pay for it or miss out.
High quality gaming was never a cheap hobby anyway. I remember buying an Atari 800XL in order to play Flight Simulator 2. The 5.25" floppy disk drive cost more than the computer and, with the monitor, the total cost was over £1,000 - and that was in the 1980s!
You will not be surprised that whilst respecting your opinion, I totally disagree with the idea of waiting, would actively encourage anyone who is able to get their hands on VR asap...and suggest you rework the title of this thread.
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Personally I'm in total agreement with you there. In fact the OP pretty much acknowledges that he's not ready for VR (in its current state) ..
"I'm simply not quite ready to jump on."
I'm not sure if he's posted back in here since, probably feels he's said his piece and made up his mind. The only other thing I would add is that he says he's also waiting for the price to be right but at £400 I'm not sure we'll see the price of latest gen VR to ever be much lower than that. If you look at say console prices I think they've also pretty much settled now with each new generation costing roughly the same as the last. I guess we "might" see CV2 or a Pimax CV or some other come down to say £300 in 5 years time but sheesh ... that's 5 more years without VR ... we could all be dead by then! I've not regretted jumping on when I did for a second (even with the OP's reservations which I pretty much acknowlege) ... the last year has been amazing and I've had so much pleasure, not just being in VR but from being an active member of the vanguard, showing VR to friends and family at every opportunity and being able to tell anyone who will listen all about it!
Summer price drop on the rift swung it for me, and now it feels totally worth it. Yes there are issues, but nothing that can't be overcome. Mostly it is about resolution, particularly for text.
Changing HUD colours sorted this so I can read ingame text without wearing my out of game varifocal glasses.
A leatherette alternative facial interface to the foam one supplied cuts out fogging.
Voice attack, voice pack and better mapping of buttons to my HOTAS gets me full control of my ship without removing the HMD.
Getting used to it overcame my initial sense of motion sickness when making extreme manouvers.
If you played computer games back in the day I probably don't need to explain the "willing suspension of disbelief" that makes it possible for us to immerse ourselves in these make believe worlds. But it works and it is totally awesome
Changing HUD colours sorted this so I can read ingame text without wearing my out of game varifocal glasses.
A leatherette alternative facial interface to the foam one supplied cuts out fogging.
Voice attack, voice pack and better mapping of buttons to my HOTAS gets me full control of my ship without removing the HMD.
Getting used to it overcame my initial sense of motion sickness when making extreme manouvers.
If you played computer games back in the day I probably don't need to explain the "willing suspension of disbelief" that makes it possible for us to immerse ourselves in these make believe worlds. But it works
and it is totally awesome 
I have been a gamer for over three decades on and off but ED in VR was a revelation. They are so naturally matched that playing on a flat screen is "kinda cute."
I would go so far as to say it was a revolution and now you can get a full VR kit for $399 and as low as $200 on EBAY, I think now is a great time to try and figure it out...
Devices are still a bit rough around the edges but they are not much less niche (to gaming) IMHO than the iPhone was when it first came out. In fact there were skeptics who thought it would never succeed in Japan... (I was also one for a time).
I would go so far as to say it was a revolution and now you can get a full VR kit for $399 and as low as $200 on EBAY, I think now is a great time to try and figure it out...
Devices are still a bit rough around the edges but they are not much less niche (to gaming) IMHO than the iPhone was when it first came out. In fact there were skeptics who thought it would never succeed in Japan... (I was also one for a time).
I'm not impressed with monitor gaming at all myself. They are just awful. If it wasn't for VR I wouldn't be gaming at all right now.
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