Virtual Insanity

Redefining VR

Imust apologise for jabbering on about VR so much of late, but with last month’s arrival of the Rift, followed by this issue’s HTC Vive, I’m kind of beside myself with joy. I didn’t think things could get much better after playing around with the Rift, yet the Vive taught me to redefine what the VR experience should really be.

In essence, VR is much more than a screen strapped to your head. A good Head-Mounted Display is just one part of the jigsaw puzzle that delivers a true VR experience. Admittedly it is probably the most important piece, but without supporting peripherals, you’re still left being an observer inside these virtual worlds. For VR to truly encompass the player totally, it’s crucial to have motion controls that allow us to interact with virtual objects in a naturalistic way. It’s here that the Vive has a huge advantage over the Rift, though it’s anybody’s guess as to how long this lead will exist. With the Rift Touch controls due sometime in 2016, Oculus will be back on an even footing with Vive.

Even with motion controls, there are still other areas to be explored to deliver the perfect VR experience. Omni-directional treadmills seem to promise the perfect method of locomotion, allowing players to walk on the spot in any direction, which is then translated into in-game movement. Haptic feedback will be much harder to nail – how will technology be able to trick our sense of touch into feeling the difference between virtual fur and felt? And how do you show the difference in weight when lifting a rocket launcher compared to a pistol? I think these two issues in particular will take many, many years to solve, likely involving technology that doesn’t exist yet.

The good news is they’re not critical to delivering an amazing experience. A great HMD with motion controllers is revolutionary already, and these two pieces of tech will get even better over the next few years. I can wait for them to reach perfection – it’s taken 20 years to get here, so waiting another five years for the ultimate VR headset with zero pixilation and superior comfort, combined with motion tracking that can see what my fingers are doing, won’t be a problem.