Oculus Rift vs Track IR 5

I've got both TrackIR 4 and DK2 and tbh I've gone back to the TrackIR 4.

It's true the DK2 makes you feel your 'in' the spaceship, looking up and down and around is superb. You get a feeling of space around you unlike anything else.

I did love the fact I moved the throttle of my HOTAS and as I looked down, my avatar in sync moved the throttle. It was at once engaging and quite disturbing!

However take that away and you are left with incredibly underwhelming graphical fidelity inside and outside of your ship that breaks all the amazing immersion you get with this sense of space. Issues with sharpness, colour, the 'gauze' effect you have over everything that just reminds you are playing a game while looking at a Note 3.

I get bad chromatic aberration on almost every single star, stations are a fuzzy mess until up close, and the whole thing becomes quite an unpleasant experience IMO.

I understand this is an unfashionable view, as we are all supposed to be head over heels with the DK2, but the tech needs to mature quite some way before I feel the same way.

So I went back to the TrackIR 4, which is a big step up from fixed view (impossible to go back once you do some form of headtracking), and I can see the game in all its glory in high fidelity. This is much more important to me than being locked inside a fuzzy spaceship with fuzzy roids and fuzzy stations fuzzing past me.

For immersion and a unique and incomparable experience, OR is the future, no doubt. But right now I would rather take the headtracking solution any day of the week.

I should point out that a number of people in the OR thread felt that yours wasn't set up correctly.
 
I do have a Hotas X. But I found (at least for the moment) that going back to the XBOX Controller feels better in the Rift. I can sit way back from the camera giving it a wider range - I can lean back in my seat and chill.

Little off topic but if HOTAS isn't that important for you, you might want to give this some thought: http://www.3dconnexion.eu/index.php?id=271 i bought the base model a while back before i had a HOTAS and it is pretty cool in that it feels like you are holding your spaceship in your hand (check out the videos on how it works) :) i think there is also a thread on it somewhere. in my case, i love my x55 (might upgrade to a warthog once all the complaints about its drivers stop) so my space mouse doesn't get much use any more.

That's a terrible argument considering the expense and effort you have put in yourself (link to your post)

Not at all, it is a well known psychological phenomenon. If you started picking on things I spent money on, I am sure the same psychology would apply to me too (if i am not mindful) considering it is a subconscious process. but, as i haven't spent money on an OR, i am less biased towards it than someone who has and would order one today if i thought i would enjoy it but based on my research i don't think i would. If you hadn't conveniently chopped off most of that sentence, the recommendation was to get an unbiased view through research. how is that a terrible idea?

Perhaps you need a break from your cockpit dude, all the best.

it is only a cockpit if i am playing Elite, right now it is an office with all the toys tucked away :p unfortunately i am fairly busy this week with work so the cockpit and elite have to wait till that is done (otherwise I would be playing elite instead of occasionally popping in here). cheers.
 
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I have both ED tracker and a DK2.

I know the ED tracker lacks the 6 axis movement, but it's fair to say that when I upgraded from having a static monitor to the ED tracker it was an immense improvement. I wouldn't say it had any immersion value, but it did improve and expand on my ability to capitalise on situational awareness.

The DK2 is a different beast though, it provided all the extra ability to look around of the EDtracker but it puts you right in the cockpit! For quality of experience it's unparalleled.

Sure it has issues, particularly if your machine isn't high spec and the resolution needs to improve further, but conceptually it can't be beaten. Elite Dangerous is a great game without it, with it it's a great experience.

The smartest thing FD ever did was to make the decision to fully support VR, it's the gaming of tomorrow.
 
Its set up as per all the guides I have come across here. There really isn't that much to change settings wise so.

Well, I'm not seeing in my DK2 what you say you're seeing in your DK2. The ratio of happy to unhappy DK2 users remains very high, maybe up around 95%.
 
Well, I'm not seeing in my DK2 what you say you're seeing in your DK2. The ratio of happy to unhappy DK2 users remains very high, maybe up around 95%.

That is utterly irrelevant to me. The only thing important to ME is what I am seeing. I don't give a fudge what YOU are seeing in yours. :)

EDIT: BTW I doubt you are seeing a truly high fidelity image, regardless of your setup. Maybe you have the worlds first DK2 that does this?
 
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That is utterly irrelevant to me. The only thing important to ME is what I am seeing. I don't give a fudge what YOU are seeing in yours. :)

Yeah, but the point is that there remains some doubt about whether or not yours was set up right. It's the sort of point that prospective buyers may find useful, even if you don't!
 
Yeah, but the point is that there remains some doubt about whether or not yours was set up right. It's the sort of point that prospective buyers may find useful, even if you don't!

Remains some doubt?

As I have said there is very little in the way of setup to change. I have set my IPD fine, it is centred correctly on my head....and? Some guy went on about 'color code' of a monitor....well if he was referring to calibration, my monitor is about 94% calibrated to Adobe Standard which is higher than the vast majority of gaming monitors, I'm not sure why this would affect DK2 as that is a separate monitor anyway...

Do you not have any gauze effect over everything you see? People in the OR thread have agreed this is a thing, what about sharpness, do you see everything pin sharp?

Right now its fine as a hint to what it will become some years down the line, but MY eyes and MY DK2 dont play too good together, and I would rather play ED for more than 30 minutes without being sick, so as fa as this thread goes, I MUCH prefer the TrackIR 4.
 
Remains some doubt?

As I have said there is very little in the way of setup to change. I have set my IPD fine, it is centred correctly on my head....and? Some guy went on about 'color code' of a monitor....well if he was referring to calibration, my monitor is about 94% calibrated to Adobe Standard which is higher than the vast majority of gaming monitors, I'm not sure why this would affect DK2 as that is a separate monitor anyway...

Do you not have any gauze effect over everything you see? People in the OR thread have agreed this is a thing, what about sharpness, do you see everything pin sharp?

Right now its fine as a hint to what it will become some years down the line, but MY eyes and MY DK2 dont play too good together, and I would rather play ED for more than 30 minutes without being sick, so as fa as this thread goes, I MUCH prefer the TrackIR 4.

I see the gauze, the image is sharp in the middle but the focus softens out towards the edges, but these issues don't detract much for me. The whole experience is very comfortable for my eyes and at no time do I feel sick.
 
I see the gauze, the image is sharp in the middle but the focus softens out towards the edges, but these issues don't detract much for me. The whole experience is very comfortable for my eyes and at no time do I feel sick.

So you have the same issues. The only difference is I also get the chromatic aberration which I cannot seem to remove.

So lines running across and down the screen, lower resolution, centred focussing (blurring around edges), albeit can be sidetracked by fixing your eyes dead centre at all times, which, to me, feels unnatural. Plus, in addition, RGB CA on every star in the sky. It is a high cost FOR ME, for immersion. Everyone will react / cope different with these issues ofc.

And FTR I dont even regret spending the money on the DK2, because I can see where the future lies with this. Its just not there yet.
 
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Have you flogged your DK2 then Nomadski? Im sure you could make a few quid on that!

Have thought about it, and its currently sitting in a dust cover on top of my printer, but tbh am waiting a short while to see if there is magic software that will improve things over the next month or so. Not holding my breath but you never know.
 
Well xmas is coming up so you'ld get plenty of buck for your bang as it were for then. Better still there's bound to be someone in the Elite D forums who would bite your hand off to get a dk2 for when Gamma drops!
 
I am very impressed with Catpain Kirk but everyone else is just being fanboys and repeating each other..

Thanks, but it's not all that impressive - just try for yourself: close your eyes and try to do what you would normally do in an environment you're used to - you'll find that you don't need to see your surroundings all that much - you certainly don't look at your keyboard whilst playing a game usually, you don't need to look to find your mouse after you let it go for a second to scratch your head. Most people I know look at the screen and not the keyboard whilst typing (and I'm a terrible typist - look at my username ;)).

Some points I've noticed during the discussion:

I have to agree with those that say that you need to have tried it at least once. I knew the OR wasn't just a screen strapped to my face - I knew it would be so much more when all the technologies I've closely followed during the last years would be brought together to create the best Illusion possible for an interested layman like me, but when I first tried it, I was blown away. I'm not defending something because I've paid lots of money for it - I'm not rich, but I don't really have to think about spending 350€ on my Hobby.

The last time I was blown away by new technology was when I bought my Orchid Righteous 3D and played glquake on it - and it's not even the same league of being blown away. I've been playing computer games for 35 years now, and I know that I won't play certain genres on a regular screen ever again. So yes - you can call me a fanboy of VR (not necessarily OR).

However, as seen in Nomadskis comments, not everyone feels about it the same way and whilst it's an epiphany to me, it may be nauseating to others.

But you should give it a try for an informed opinion (I know you will).
 
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Javert

Volunteer Moderator
I would like to thank you all for your views on this. I can see there are many strong supporters of DK2 and some who are not so keen.

I guess I will find out because I've ordered one now, so I will let you know how it goes. Fortunately I can afford it right now, so it's not the end of the world if I don't get on with it, and I reckon the kids will love it. If I don't like it I can Ebay it.

I do have a bit of a worry that I will feel I am not getting the absolute best experience if I have to turn graphics settings down in the game, but in the end it will be how it feels that counts. Like one of the other posters I've always liked the idea of being able to have all graphics settings at max, so it will be a bit of a paradigm shift for me.

I guess I will also have to spend some time setting up X52 for all operations, as at the moment I use keyboard for some of the functions like landing gear and Frameshift.

I guess the extension of Hominin's argument about having a brick on your face, is that people might laugh at me sitting there with a VR headset on, but more fool them. Just don't ask Hominin his opinions on the flight model ;-)

I have heard people who just had a go on ED on the OR at a game show raving about it saying "That is the best gaming experience I ever had" or words to that effect, so it's not just those who've spent a lot of money that like it.

All points taken on board though. Thanks for all your input and I will hope to get some help with setup if needed.
 
So you have the same issues. The only difference is I also get the chromatic aberration which I cannot seem to remove.

So lines running across and down the screen, lower resolution, centred focussing (blurring around edges), albeit can be sidetracked by fixing your eyes dead centre at all times, which, to me, feels unnatural. Plus, in addition, RGB CA on every star in the sky. It is a high cost FOR ME, for immersion. Everyone will react / cope different with these issues ofc.

And FTR I dont even regret spending the money on the DK2, because I can see where the future lies with this. Its just not there yet.

DK2's issues are as nothing compared to monitors. Also, I got rid of the CA with a driver change at some point.
 
CA (Chromatic Abberation) is also gone for me.. it used to be a problem in previous drivers and previous beta. Don't know which change in particular made the biggest change on it though.
 
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