I intend to buy a Virtual Reality System. Which one would you recommend, and why?

Nonmortem · Jul 15, 2015

Hi, brothers in Space

I would like to buy a Virual Reality Device for Elite Dangerous.

My System:

Windows 8.1
CPU = Intel Core i5-4670K @ 3.40 GHz
RAM = 8 GB
Graphics = NVidia GeForce GTX 760 (2 GB RAM)

I would like to prefer a system with headtracking, but I've got no idea which one is the "best"
to use with E

at these days.

May you give me some recommendations, and tell me, why I should buy this, and not another system?
Which one is the most practicable one, and is most compatible with E

?
What is the price of your recommendation, or, to make it short: with which system, do think, I
will have the most fun with?

Thank you in advance for your answer.
Live long, and fly prosper

Mulbin · Jul 16, 2015

There is currently only one available. The oculus rift DK2. Or do you mean which headset do we think you should buy when they are all released?

dayrth · Jul 16, 2015

I'm holding out for the Oculus Rift consumer version. Should be out early next year.

Spacefreeker · Jul 16, 2015

Agree, I was fortunate to borrow an Occulus rift for a while, the experience was fantastic, its just not 3D but actually like sitting in a ship, ie I look below my seat in a Vulture and there is a glass panel on the floor, there are lots of things to see in the ship too that cannot be seen normally. Dog fights are awesome, think Top Gun with the cockpit visibilty and the ability to follow enemies all the way to the ceiling!

The downside is a lower resolution, difficulty reading text and difficult to drink coffee lol. To be honest I would not buy it now, soon the competition is hotting up with OR and Valve HTC due to release 2015/16, my preference is HTC at the moment tech wise. Longer term, Samsung is working towards 11k displays for mobiles! Guess where the technology will migrate to.

As an interim, I soldered up an EDtracker, that works great and is cheap as chips, adds a lot to the game and will do me until the proper release, that is if the game still holds my interest of course.

The required PC/Graphic cards specs are quite high though, suspect the OP's system would be marginal.

PlayLove · Jul 18, 2015

Looks like there's no competition indeed. Everyone is waiting for OR )

Adam Lusardi · Jul 18, 2015

Not me, steam VIVA, It will be out first and tracking by two lasers. Currently the camera tracking is the big let-down and with CV1 its on a "stick" just to obscure my telly.

Lestenio · Jul 18, 2015

Adam Lusardi said:
Not me, steam VIVA, It will be out first and tracking by two lasers. Currently the camera tracking is the big let-down and with CV1 its on a "stick" just to obscure my telly.

Steam VIVA sounds interesting but I'm not sure about a VR system that lets you move about. Fine if you have a large uncluttered space, dangerous if you have a small room, lots of things on the floor and pets.

While the VIVI has 2 laser tracking, the CV1 will have support for multi cameras so tracking shouldn't be an issue.

I think any serious gamer will probably end up with both.

D8ncer · Jul 18, 2015

Adam Lusardi said:
Not me, steam VIVA, It will be out first and tracking by two lasers. Currently the camera tracking is the big let-down and with CV1 its on a "stick" just to obscure my telly.

.
Its the HTC Vive that steam are in partnership with. Should be out in a few months before Christmas.

Thoemse · Jul 19, 2015

You need to buy a new GPU first. With that GPU no headset will deliver a good experience.
Considering the HTC Vive will be out in Oct I would suggest to wait for that and check reviews.
The DK2 is the only one out now but it wont be fun with that GPU either.

KING5TON · Jul 20, 2015

Don't preorder any of them.
Wait till they are out. Wait for reviews. Wait for prices.

Don't buy a DK2 now, wait.
The consumer VR headsets will be out really soon, why get a development kit which won't be supported and isn't as good as the consumer versions?

adoredtv · Jul 20, 2015

Lestenio said:
I think any serious gamer will probably end up with both.

Sadly you're gonna have to if you want to play all the games, what with Oculus having "exclusives" and the likely way for Valve to counter is to do the same.

CMDR MAIN SEQUENCE · Jul 20, 2015

adoredtv said:
Sadly you're gonna have to if you want to play all the games, what with Oculus having "exclusives" and the likely way for Valve to counter is to do the same.

So the question then becomes, will FD switch allegiance to Valve or will they remain pledged to Oculus? Or will they support all vendors?

[VR] Mad Mike · Jul 20, 2015

Lestenio said:
I think any serious gamer will probably end up with both.

it sickens me that it MAY be that we will have too.... I wont be however so will ultimately take a stab and hope for the best.

That being said..... any company that releases a game exclusive to 1 head set and not the other - for any reason other than physical impossibilty due to 1 product having extra functionality over the other - they better hope their game is not hacked to run on the other headset, because if it is I will get it by other means.

its bad enough having console exclusivity.... The last thing we need in an already niche market is monitor exclusivity. could you imagine buying a game which "only" ran on Samsung monitors and not any other?, imo this kind of fragmentation is the only thing which can kill VR at this point.

Market fragmentation could mean that people just sit on the fence and wait and see, afraid of ending up saddled with the betamax / HDDVD / minidisk / CDTV / CDi / video laser disk (you get my point)

Jericho · Jul 21, 2015

I plan on purchasing both the CV as well as the Vive.

Axelsson · Jul 22, 2015

Jericho said:
I plan on purchasing both the CV as well as the Vive.

Same here. Why not if the estimated prices are correct? I'll get the Project Morpheus for PS4 as well.

[VR] Mad Mike · Jul 22, 2015

Axelsson said:
Same here. Why not if the estimated prices are correct? I'll get the Project Morpheus for PS4 as well.

money is part of the issue for me but the main this is space and outputs. My wife would go mental if I have HMDs lying around all over the place, and could you really be bothered with the faff if you want to play 10 mins of elite in your rift, and then thing, now i fancy some star citizen, but 1st you have to unplug your rift and dig our your vive?

no thanks, not for me

Frank · Jul 22, 2015

adoredtv said:
Sadly you're gonna have to if you want to play all the games, what with Oculus having "exclusives" and the likely way for Valve to counter is to do the same.

Oculus are planning on having exclusives? That's an incredibly stupid thing for them to do when the other guys have Steam.

I was going to wait for the CV1 to come out so I could compare the two headsets, but If Oculus are seriously going to slit their own throats, then the choice becomes a no-brainer.

[VR] Mad Mike · Jul 22, 2015

Frank said:
Oculus are planning on having exclusives? That's an incredibly stupid thing for them to do when the other guys have Steam.

I was going to wait for the CV1 to come out so I could compare the two headsets, but If Oculus are seriously going to slit their own throats, then the choice becomes a no-brainer.

What makes you think Steam will not do the same thing? (if they dont then that is great, but if I were valve I would be v tempted to spend FAR more time getting HL3 working in Vive over CV1)

also it isnt really only down to valve or oculus I suppose, if a dev wants to only support 1 HMD. I just hope the behind the scences stuff is so similar that it is easy for get both to be supported, even if it takes a spot of jury rigging

CMDR UBERPEITSCHE · Jul 22, 2015

Mad Mike said:
What makes you think Steam will not do the same thing? (if they dont then that is great, but if I were valve I would be v tempted to spend FAR more time getting HL3 working in Vive over CV1)

also it isnt really only down to valve or oculus I suppose, if a dev wants to only support 1 HMD. I just hope the behind the scences stuff is so similar that it is easy for get both to be supported, even if it takes a spot of jury rigging

If this scenario is going to happen then I would assume the Vive would be far more popular.
If OC think they can compete with steam with their Oculus home overlay they're crazy.

Especially after the fiasko about the facebook overtake of what used to be a kickstarter company.

Im not a "supporter" of any VR atm, I'll propably buy the first one that gets a full release and gets decent reviews after that.

[VR] Deggial · Jul 22, 2015

Yes, Oculus VR invested 10 mio. $ in games and funded them up to 100%. The availability of well working software is crucial in the initial phase of VR. And yes, these games have Oculus support.
And why not? It seems to be difficult enough to support more than one system, as the technical specifications seem to differ quite a bit. Why shouldn't a game developer focus on one of these technologies - and why shouldn't this be the technology of those who gave the money? I can not blame them and this doesn't influence my own decision to purchase on system or the other at all!

What does influence me, is that the unique selling point of the "Vive" is futile for me. I don't have a room to spare as a VR "holodeck" and never will! Additionally: even if I had, a VR headset linked with a cable isn't exactly what is most suitable for running around in an empty room.
OR seems to have the better system for a sitting use.

No, I'll definitely wait until the CV1 comes out. I may wait for some comparative reviews before I finally decide what system to buy. But currently, I am strongly tending to buy the Oculus Rift.