Just how good is VR?

User Support Hub Virtual Reality (VR)
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I’m not new to VR, but in considering a new headset I wanted some advice.

I wear glasses, but continue to find that irrespective of fitting I find outside of cockpit view or the external view in VR to be slightly out of focus. In cockpit looking at the instruments all is reasonable. But looking out from the cockpit isn’t great

So my question is to all those with decent vision, Am I foolish to expect that that using VR I should expect the same level of sharpness as I experience from a 2k monitor?

For reference my current headset is the original Pimax Crystal , the one before they brought out the ‘light’ version.

Sadly without any flight sim shows in the UK ,I’ve not been able to try before buying and though I wanted to buy the new ‘Super’ I can’t spend another £1500 unless I’m sure.

Then again I might be expecting to much

Thanks

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I had the Crystal as well, until my glasses scratched the lenses. It’s an excellent headset. It will not be as sharp as 2D. I wore “office lenses” in mine, not my usual progressives. I think you already have the best choice for VR in MSFS. My Valve Index fits my glasses great, and they don’t scratch the headset. I am expecting the next generation of Index this fall. Fingers crossed.

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Many of us who wear glasses purchase prescription lenses that fit over the lenses in our HMD. The image is clearer and has a little better FOV since our glasses frames aren’t there.

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Ever consider getting contact lenses?

I have been wearing them for many, many years and love them.

They are also not that expensive anymore.

If you do get contacts, like Oldpond said, get an office prescription.

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Yes, I got those inserts made as well. However, I liked my glasses better. Contacts are a great option.

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I will sum it up pretty well here

when it’s works it’s awesome -truly amazing

When it doesn’t it’s awful - bloody awful

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I would say it’s not QUITE as sharp as a monitor, but it’s pretty ■■■■ close (on the better headsets), and the immersion more than makes up for it. Lens inserts are a must though imo. I don’t even own glasses but still have some because they make it sharper and protect the lenses.

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I’m a VR newbie…using a Quest 3…also wear glasses…bought the blue tinted inserts as my glasses are multi focal…no probs so far.

9800x3D, 4080Super, 64BG Ram.

Graphics are about 80% compared to my 4K TV…immersion is fantastic once you accept that the graphics in the headset (Quest 3) will never be as sharp as the monitor….but, now only “fly” using the headset.

That said, the graphics within the cockpit and close outside area, are superb (TAA)….just the long distance graphics are not as sharp as 4K.

My goal is to start stuffing my piggy bank, to eventually purchase an up market PCVR set plus a 5090. :dollar_banknote: :money_bag:

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Honestly I don’t know if it’s worth the hassle. Yesterday I tried to setup VR again, haven’t really tried it in years since I bought a 5080 only this year and previously my 3080 was vram limited for VR.

I barely got 30 fps in a Cessna 208B in Tokyo. Low or Ultra settings almost didn’t matter. (5800X3D, RTX 5080, 64gb of ram) - the fact that I couldn’t get AT LEAST 90 fps at medium settings with DLSS performance just put me off from even trying any more.

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I’ve got a Quest 3 and 5080, are there any setup guides anywhere to get the most out of this? I’ve never been that impressed with the VR quality, but it’s quite possible I’m doing something wrong.

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Thanks all. I took up VR around 3 years ago, while studying for my PPL. I agree the immersion makes it all worthwhile.

Funnily enough I’ve not really had too much issue with VR and 2024, since the betas came out. That’s with a 4090, and 9800x3d mind you.

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There’s a huge jump in quality between streaming and low res HMDs like the Q3 and the more premium ones. The Q3 is great value and has industry-leading pancake lenses, but if you want high fidelity you need to look into displayport-based HMDs with higher resolution.

As for guides, there’s tonnes on youtube specifically for the Q3.

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No amount of Anti Aliasing cleans up the Q3’s image compression compromises imo.

A display port powered HMD is a must for me in open world far terrain distance VR experiences such as flight sims. I simply can not enjoy the Q3s image in MSFS after being spoiled by display port HMDs for years. The Quest 3 is a great intro into VR and solid overall HMD for folks who never experienced display port visuals though. I consider going from a Reverb2, Rift S, PSVR2, Vive, etc etc to a Q3 just for wireless freedom a step backwards though.

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Because you simply don’t know how to properly configure your headset and PC.

With a Quest 2 and an RTX 2080, and VD, I get a solid 75 fps without any particular issues, with the settings in intermediate.

For those interested: VD on 10-bit HEVC, adaptive quantization on, 2-pass encoding on, in the headset: SSW on active always, 80 FPS requested. On FS2024: Balanced DLSS, Foveal Rendering on, NVIDIA latency on, no reprojection. Overall quality on intermediate.

So with a Q3 and an RTX 3080 or 4070, I can’t even imagine what I’d get!!!

For video streaming, you need a good Wi-Fi 7, which is what I have at home with a Q2 running at 1200 Mbps.

High-end wired headsets, why not if you have a €3,000 war PC and a 5080 graphics card at the same price if you want to achieve TAA rendering in ultra configuration!!! This is the major problem with these headsets, which are ultimately nothing more than remote displays with no other features… they depend on the power of your PC and your GPU.

So if you’re super rich, no worries for you, but that’s not the case for most people…

So, with an average PC, the Q3 with VD remains the most economically sensible choice and works very well if you know how to configure it correctly (no Meta software! No cable link! No OpenXR! Just VD with Wi-Fi 7!).
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Can you post normal text/format please?

What is this supposed to be? A copy paste from somewhere else?

I’m not going to even attempt to read nor make sense of that.

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That’s not a problem, that’s exactly the “feature” we want!

Not good if you want to play standalone low fidelity games running on what is essentially a capable mobile phone strapped to your head. Very good if you want to enjoy high fidelity VR simulations.

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Your logic comes across as someone who doesn’t have as much experience with multiple VR HMDs outside of a Quest 2. When you know better you want better. Again the Quest 3 is an awesome HMD overall for users to make their initial jump into VR without having experienced the full pixel fidelity of a non image compression compromised Display Port powered image. Your little Wi- Fi 7, 10 Bit HEVC and Bitrate Encode tricks can not push past the Quest 2/3s hardware limited compression compromise. That has already been proven over and over and you’re not telling us anything new here.

If that were the case tons of Flight and Race Sim enthusiasts would not feel a need to venture past the Quest 2/3 back to display port powered HMDs for such low latency/ image compression needs. Nothing to do with being super rich or not knowing how to properly configure headsets with PCs. Some higher end VR users are used to NO IMAGE COMPRESSION of any sort and are willing to sacrifice non tethered wireless freedom to go back to high end Display Port HMDs. MSFS 2020/2024 and other similar huge world map open terrain distance game/sim imagery looks terrible and chippy no matter how much DLSS or TAA, Encode Bitrate you throw at it. It’s simply something one cannot unsee after coming from Display Port HMDs.

YES! We are chasing no compromise visual fidelity here! Yes we purchased expensive fire breathing hardware PCs to do just that for those sweet image visuals….GRUNT WORK!

Your Quest 2 and RTX 2080 can not supply the same level visual experience of what I’m used to, no matter how you tweak it. Glad you are enjoying what you have but there are levels to this! My VR eyes prefer the beauty of full chocolate in the terrain distance not just chocolate chips :rofl:

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It totally sucks if you a right eye dominant.

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So you’re not answering the question of whether VR is good, but how can I get the best possible VR on an unlimited budget?

If you’re Jeff Besos, no worries, you have the means, and I don’t really see the point of coming forward and explaining that you’re the only one with the latest €5,000 headset and that it’s therefore fabulous… Luckily, with €10,000 you can run FS 2024 optimally…

For the rest of us, with a Quest 2 and an RTX 2080 it works very well, so on a limited budget you can have a lot of fun. I have a 2 DOF simu, and it feels like it without any problems! It’s not a mess of jerky pixels, far from it! If you have a slightly larger budget, the Q3 is ideal with a 4070, and the vast majority of serious sim fans are on this type of product.

The advantage of a Q2 or Q3 is having a headset that can do everything. It runs standalone games on it, and it works with your PC for bigger games (Project Car 2, for example, works very well too! And perfectly on the Q2; you don’t even need to go any further to get the best quality…).

With a DisplayPort headset, outside of a PC, nothing, no hand recognition either. Some require you to have a tracking station installed in the room…

So for a limited budget, a Q2/Q3 is more than enough, and you will be able to use many other games or apps, which is not the case with headsets three times more expensive in displayport, the failure of the Apple headset is typical of this gross error, a headset which is nothing other than a remote screen… at €3000!

Good fly !

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I love my VR with Quest3. I couldnt fly in 2D anymore. 40-45 FPS with almost all Planes and even in big cities.

CPU : AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D, 8x 4.70Ghz
GPU :AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX - 24GB - Sapphire Nitro Vapor-X
Mainboard: ASUS ROG Strix B850-E Gaming WIFI
RAM : 64GB DDR5 RAM 6000 MHz Corsair Vengeance RGB CL30
Netzteil: be quiet! Power Zone 2 - 1000W

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