I was having a chat with
@PsyBorg and
@cranialrectosis in PM about the video games we've been playing, so I thought I'd resurrect this thread and sort of describe my latest pandemic driven renewed interest in PC gaming. Mostly with the release of the new Microsoft Flight Simulator, and their announcement that it would be updated to support VR in January 2021, I decided to embark on a VR journey. Up to now, my only exposure to VR was with those Google cardboard VR goggles I picked up at trade shows / vendor give-aways. I enjoyed a few youtube 3D videos, and such, but figured wow, with MSFS and VR, I might actually get a better idea of what it's like to sit in the pilot seat of various planes without having to pay for flight lessons, fuel, access to planes, etc!
I had a bit of a budget, and it had to work with the three year old desktop computer I built based on on an Intel i7/7700K CPU, and Nvidia 1080ti video card. It was pretty swell at the time, but a little long in tooth now. I wasn't ready to spend a ton on goggles, since I wasn't sure if I would even like VR, so I went with the cheapest that seemed like it would work. I went with the Oculus Quest2 64GB model for ~300USD, along with the $50 "Elite" headstrap, and a $80(!) USB C link cable so I could connect it to my computer and mostly use it not as a standalone VR headset, but a tethered one.
Already, this was hitting my budget limit (I didn't want to spend more than one of those new PS5 or XBox SeriesX consoles) without accounting for any software I would need to buy.
It actually took quite a bit more software configuration than I would have expected to get everything working, but it's safe to say I'm glad I went through the effort. As a hedge, I also looked into setting up an inexpensive headtracking system in case I couldn't get my "VR legs" under me so I could fly, etc without getting motion sickness. I setup a headtracking system around a used XBox Kinect and PC USB interface that can be bought off eBay relatively cheaply these days. That took even more software fiddling with OpenTrack, but while flying with that is more comfortable than under a hot VR goggle, it's just not as immersive.
Here are some videos I shared recorded off the goggles -- one nice thing about standalone goggles with 64GB of storage, you can use that to record videos if you don't plan to use it to store software!
Flying a Savage Cub in MSFS around my hometown of Boston:
Splurging on Star Wars Squadron, so I can fulfill my childhood fantasies of being a X-Wing pilot:
I have to say that flying a lot with FPV meant that getting acclimated to VR flying wasn't all that hard. The biggest difference I notice is when I look sideways in a plane at altitude, while banking, I kind of get that stomach dropping sense / feeling of vertigo!
