I have just acquired a Tobii 5 and this is the biggest improvement in simulation for a long time.
I tried VR and couldn’t manage wearing a heavy headset for any length of time.
I run a curved 32” 4K monitor and the ability to look around without using a joystick ‘hat/pov’ control is so good. It’s especially good for helicopters as the ability to keep the deck/pad in focus while positioning to land is a huge leap forward.
I’m running with more bias to head tracking than actual eye tracking and find this helps in smoothing the screen response.
Praise for the Tobii seems widespread and I’m glad to hear that so many people have got it to work properly. I recently tried it for the first time after being a TrackIR user for many years, and no matter what I did I simply could not get rid of a latency or lag in the movement that was really irritating. I gave up and went back to TrackIR and was amazed at how smooth the movement was compared to Tobii.
I realize my experience is very much in the minority but thought it was worth mentioning anyway. I really wanted to like it, as I would love to not have to wear a headset anymore for headtracking, but the drop in quality was just too much for me.
Another dealbreaker is that there’s no way to pause the Tobii in any location other than the default; in other words, while I routinely lean in toward the screen with my TrackIR and then pause it so I can use the mouse to operate buttons or screens, when you try this with the Tobii the pause button returns you to the default centered view. Very odd to me that Tobii doesn’t have this functionality.
To add insult to my frustrating experience with it, even though I got their tech support approval to return the unit and get a full refund, after tracking showed they received my unit they stopped responding to any of my trouble tickets and never issued my refund. After a month I had to file a dispute with my credit card company to get it off my statement. Needless to say I have a hard time recommending it to anyone at this point!
I see a few comments about lag though it’s not something I’m aware of. I think I may have seen that it doesn’t necessarily exist well with open track if you’re not actually using that as the software interface though I do understand that this is also an option.
I’m still tuning the various parameters available in the FS2024 hardware controls option for it, there aren’t any ‘curve’ options there though which may be useful when at extremities of view.
Opentrack is software designed to give you the same (some say better) control over the tracking parameters the Tobii5 uses.
The sim had good controls in FS2020, but they were gone when FS2024 was released.
To regain control without using Opentrack you had to edit an XML file, which was cumbersome at best.
It took until SU3 to get the controls back. I prefer using the in-game controls now more than Opentrack. Others will disagree.
Hmm. Thanks for highlighting this new development. Unfortunately the Tobii information and linked video do not address if this will solve my issue with Tobii. I’m one of the customers that asked them for more flexibility in mounting away from their on the main monitor lower bezel location. My problem is I can’t see my main monitor lower bezel so down low is just not going to work. For anyone with a home cockpit and gear mounted in front of the main display the same will apply. The video doesn’t test this in the slightest. The new mount is not even needed for what he did there. I’m interested to hear from anyone who has it mounted somewhere like above the monitor or to the side perhaps. Meaning a true alternate location rather than an optimised version of the original mounting requirements like shown in this video.
I bought a Track IR more than 15 years ago and still use it in many sims/games. Never had to configure it for any game, I have one profile for everything. Seems that other products need some more maturing. But yess, free head movement is so nice!
I tried the original Track IR too and while it was interesting the requirement to wear something on your head ultimately put me off.
The beauty of Tobii, while it won’t meet the needs of everyone, is the fact you don’t need to make any extra accommodation of headwear, room lighting etc.
Again it’s not perfect, however it is a generational improvement.
I hate caps to death, it’s uncomfy and sweaty. But I quickly found an open female “tenis” cap. (no idea why it’s associated to tenis and female!) that does the job.
I also found the Tobii 5 to be a game changer - I tried multiple times to get into VR and with some pricy headsets, but I could never get over the compromises in the graphics, the incredibly finicky and flaky software settings, and not being able to see my own flight controls. The lack of comfort over long periods just made it even worse.
I find the Tobii gives me the majority of the immersion that you get from VR but without all the downsides, and I much prefer my monitors 4k QD OLED graphics compared to any of the goggles I used, including the Aero.
Software wise I have tried using it with Opentrack and also Smoothtrack, but I always end up going back to the native Tobii software, as I find it to be smoother and lag free. When the Tobii didn’t at first work properly on MSFS 24, I used the XML file edit workaround in preference to Opentrack, and again found that to be smoother and simpler to tweak.
Did you try to move the camera away from the monitor and closer to your sitting position? It doesn’t have to be mounted on the monitor. It can be mounted on a tripod on a Honeycomb Alpha for instance.
Edit: The software (alpha) on the Tobii link has more settings to try.
I don’t have a Tobii. It’s rather an expensive experiment if it doesn’t work. This is me trying to establish before purchase if it will indeed do what I want. Moving it closer as you suggest is not an option. Think of a real aircraft instrument panel with my main monitor behind that for the outside view. I need a location that works with that. I’m sure others are in a similar situation. On top of or embedded into my glareshield or along the bottom edge of my instrument panel are possible as is on top of the main front outside view monitor. I’ve yet to see any info that shows of suggests this is possible.
I don’t think it’s so much the orientation that’s my concern but more the actual location. Are you suggesting on top of the main monitor but upside down?
