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VR goggles with simulator?

RONSIM

Well Known Member
Anyone using VR stuff with MS or X-plane simulators? And, if so, how? And what would be the best setup?

Ron
 
I used a Valve Index with both. Overall it's a mixed experience.

You need a fairly high performance PC for visuals to look good and be smooth. I would expect a 12th gen i7 or i9 Intel processor coupled with nvidia RTX 30xx series cards would give good performance. I have a 10th gen quad core Intel CPU with a mid-range AMD card from about the same time frame, and it struggled until I turned the fidelity down. X-plane 11 does a bit better than MSFS here presumably because the rendering is not as complex.

Once you do get things going, the next issue is the controls. Valve Index controllers are fantastic for firing a gun or picking something up, but not great for pushing buttons or flipping switches. And if you use an external yoke or throttle quadrant, you of course can't see the buttons or switches on that. You could probably get used to it, of course, but for me the VR experience wasn't good enough to outweigh the current set of limitations.

If you don't have any VR at all, I would probably start with a fairly modest headset and X-plane and see if you like it. But if visual fidelity is super important, it can be done -- it's just pretty expensive given the limitations.
 
I have a Joule Performance eSports Ti which has a Nvidia RTX 2080 TI, a Playseat Air Force seat, Oculus Rift VR googles, Thrustmaster – Hotas Warthog throttle and stick, Thrustmaster TPR rudder, little wifi dongle, keyboard, and a mouse. I use DCS World with the P-51 and the Christen Eagle II.

img_6907.jpg

For me, it's nothing less than stunning. It's very smooth, lots of detail, and really feels like flying. The main goal is to practice rudder skills. There is a bit of a curve to get this working – it was not plug and play, but with a bit of time and googling, I got it to work.

My goal was to train my feet on the rudder before my first flight in the RV-8, and it served that purpose. The systems are getting a bit dated, and I hardly use it any more since I have my RV-8, but these are excellent trainers.

I agree with abaden - you need a powerful PC and a powerful graphics card to push the pixels out to the VR headset fast enough. I spent about $4k on this equipment, mostly on the PC and graphics card in 2019. Probably worth $1k today.
 
I had tried MSFS, but

quickly found my computer to be woefully underpowered.

Your replies confirm that if I want a decent experience, it will cost more than a couple of AMUs.

Thanks much,

Ron
 
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