I love my Reverb G2. I enjoy flying in it and the sensation is really cool. But, I find the lack of a diopter is inhibiting me from flying more.
It’s a process to get going and is uncomfortable wearing with my glasses (I like to take my contacts out at night but on a long enough flight both my glasses and VR lenses need to be cleaned several times). The fit is tight.
I’ve also had crashes to black screens (Alienware R10 5950x 32gb ram and 3090 gpu - looked into the cross audio thing, not a problem).
Finally, I can’t access/use my Honeycomb Alpha and Bravo very well, and I can’t do two things at once (YouTube and fly), etc.
I’m considering ebaying the G2 rather than keeping it for the novelty, try to recoup some of the cost, and flip that into a TrackIR. I still have the clip for the G2, too! I have 4K 27” 60hz for my work which is ok but very small for this game.
Looking for any of your feedback leaving VR behind and going back to pancakes, particularly if you ditched the G2, what you think of the head tracking in relation, or anything else you may find relevant.
I love my Reverb G2. Can’t imagine going back to anything else. I also need to wear glasses and dug out an old set with lightweight frames that fit pretty well inside the headset. I find the spatial view in VR so utterly compelling that it’s addictive. My first G2 met with an unfortunate accident … I bought a second headset rather than go back to monitor, despite the cost.
If I really had to abandon VR, I don’t think I could go back to TrackIR again. I know what you mean about doing two things at once, but works pretty well with audio books!
I successfully switched from the Reverb G2 to TrackIR.
My G2 died. I didn’t want to go through the fuss and hassle of another headset, only to be disappointed once again by either flakey hardware, flakey software, tiny sweet spots, blurry and lower quality graphics, and a narrow field of view, so I reverted back to the TrackIR 5.
The graphics are gorgeous and razer sharp, the framerate significantly higher, and the head tracking feels quite natural once you get used to it. Sitting close to a large 4k screen, it could definitely give VR a run for its money.
Lots of people “can’t imagine” not using VR, but it certainly can be done, and enjoyably too.
The lack of a diopter is a big deal. If I’m going to be uncomfortable and taking this thing on and off several times during a flight, I would at least like the ability to have a virtual iPad where I can browse the web and do other stuff while flying.
Last night, for example, I flew a route that had a long portion over calm water and blue skies. Bored senseless. I took the headset off, dropped out of VR mode, and ended up not bothering to put it back on until I was about 10nm away from destination.
Thank you for your relevant input. I’m not sure I’ve got the space for something much larger than 32-34” right now, though I would love a 49” curved monitor at some point in the future.
What size monitor/which monitor are you working with now?
I’ve got a 30 something inch Dell monitor. It’s nothing that fancy, but I sit close enough to make use of that pixel density. If you went with a curved ultrawide display, I really think you wouldn’t even need to consider VR really.
Not that they’re showstoppers or even impossible in VR, but it is indeed nice to have something going on other displays too like Skyvector for navigation or YouTube, or just being able to look at the Bravo, even though I could use it well enough by touch alone.
I’m not opposed to VR, and will likely try it again after the DX12 update and a new iteration of headsets is released. I’m just not compelled at the moment to give up TrackIR’s no fuss head tracking for the headache inducing troubles and compromises of VR.
I am a long-time Oculus user who was 100% HYPED for MSFS in VR - especially after dabbling with it in P3D. But I am shocked that I find VR flight simming to be a pretty horrible experience overall. It has nothing to do with performance (10900k/3090) but everything to do with using peripherals, charts, and other immersive gadgets that aid my experience.
Its just… not fun for me. I can’t play with around with LittleNavMap, enjoy a cup of coffee, or chat with friends on Discord while flying in VR.
Racing sims are particularly immersive with VR. Especially with a wheel. Amazing. But flight is a big NO for me.
Track-ir after a VR is not possible.
Pimax has a great fov but every thing else is ■■■■.
Index is too expensive for what gives me in comparison to rift s.
Quest 2 is the best for value/money but I want more fov.
So… I’ll play with a simple monitor waiting for a Quest 3.
I don’t know if I can play just flat screen only. Moving the camera is not the smoothest experience for me, which is why I’m wondering about head trackers.
The best experience in vr for me is really just the takeoff and landings.
Also, if you use around the ears headphones, the TrackIR proclip just fits on there like it’s not even there. Not only do you have the added perk of really nice (surround) sound, but it actually adds to the immersion because it feels like you’ve got a regular pilot’s headset.
Not sure why you wouldn’t use the TrackIR if you have one and are going to be using a flat display anyway.
I use the hat bracket, but my problem with TrackIR is related to a kind of “hole” that attracts and holds the field of view in the center of the image. It is not a fluid movement for me. If I make a movement from left to right, for example, my field of vision travels very smoothly until it approaches the center when, suddenly, the field of vision is “thrown” towards the center and it is necessary to move a lot my head to get out of this position.
The center deadzone is adjustable in the settings. It’s usually there to get the view easily centered and reduce jitter and drift, but you can turn it off completely if you want.
Agreed, when you take the time to learn everything that Track IR can do and how to set it up and tweak all of the movements even disabling the ones that you don’t like then it’s just as immersive if you ask me and this is from someone who also has VR.
I gave up on VR after using the Oculus CV1 for several months. It was ok (not great) for Elite Dangerous, but flight sims (XPlane) just looked awful, such low resolution. The 3D effect is great, but it loses most of that impact in blurry visuals and SDE.
I’m using TrackIR5 and a 34” screen and with the curtains closed I can get kind of near a VR experience. When MSFS’s VR performance has been optimized I’ll probably try a G2 or whatever’s good at that time, but until then TrackIR is actually a better option than VR for me.
