Sony PlayStation 4 VR
Sony’s PlayStation VR headset has been a talking point ever since it was first revealed in 2014, offering the ability to provide a great VR experience without the need for a high-end PC. Designed to be compatible with the firm’s PlayStation 4 console, it’s set to add a whole new dimension to gaming.
Design
The livery is white with black accents, and there are blue lights that track the headset in conjunction with built-in sensors. It’s bulky, so before trying on the device for the first time, we assumed it would be heavy. We were, however, mistaken.
It’s not as sleek and sexy as the £549 Oculus Rift, for example, but it’s light and comfortable to wear. After spending a pleasant afternoon using the device, we didn’t experience any irritation around the edges of the headset where it came into contact with our skin.
The PlayStation VR feels solid to wear and lets you adjust the distance between the display and the headband. This means the headset won’t be fastened too tightly to your face, helping to alleviate sweatiness and skin irritation over time – two common issues in VR. It may not seem like a huge point to make, but it shows that Sony has considered every element of use when designing its headset. It also means that those who wear glasses can comfortably use the device.
It’s worth pointing out that when we first tried on the headset, it took us around five minutes to properly align the headband and display. However, after a few sessions we soon got the knack of it and were ready to go in next to no time.
Light leakage isn’t an issue either, as the headset has several soft rubber flaps around the edges that mould to the shape of your face when wearing the headset. This ingenious design feature stops light shining into the headset without making it uncomfortable to wear.
Like many other VR headsets on the market, the PlayStation VR is wired and must be plugged into a PlayStation 4. We found the cable long enough for us to sit comfortably far away from the console, and as many games have been designed to be played sitting down, it’s not an issue.
The cable has headset controls, much like the in-line media controls found on many smartphone headphones, offering a headphone jack for your headphones along with volume controls and a power button.
Hardware
The PlayStation VR offers some pretty impressive specs for a £349 headset. It has a 5.7in 1920x1080 full-HD OLED display, equating to 1080x960 per eye. While it’s not as high as the £689 HTC Vive’s 2160x1200 (1080x1200 per eye) resolution, it still provides an immersive VR experience.
The display is coupled with a 100-degree field of view and an 18ms response time provides users with an experience indistinguishable from real life. Sony’s virtual reality headset also has a 120Hz refresh rate, which means it has the potential to render games at 120fps.
A common problem among VR headsets is what’s called the screen-door effect. This refers to the gap between individual pixels that appear when looking closely at a display. The gaps cause an effect that looks like the mesh used in screen doors, and can hinder the ability to read text, among other things, in VR.
When using the PlayStation VR, the screen-door effect was hardly noticeable – even when trying to focus on the individual pixels on the display, it was hard to pick them out. This is due to Sony using an RGB display that offers three RGB subpixels per pixel, rather than the Vive and Rift, which make do with two subpixels. It may not seem like much, but it enhanced our overall experience of the VR headset.
Our PlayStation 4 games console was able to track movement thanks to the headset’s built-in accelerometers and LED side lights. These were detected by a PS4 camera (£39), which Sony claims tracks the headset up to 1,000 times per second, though this is only when it can see you.
The design of the headset allows users to turn their heads 360 degrees in-game, allowing gamers to look behind them when inevitably being chased by a weapon-wielding enemy. This is thanks to sensors on the back of the headset, which let the system know when you’re looking behind you.
Along with the PlayStation VR headset, gamers can buy Move batons (£60 for a pack of two). These are repurposed versions of those available for the PS3. Their tracking isn’t 1:1 though, which causes the controllers to occasionally jump around in-game
when the camera loses tracking. Due to the PlayStation Camera’s relatively narrow field of view, it’s possible that certain elements within the VR experience will be beyond your reach. This happened to us while playing London Heist – we tried to reach for a drawer, but the light at the end of the baton was just outside the camera’s field of view and as such, couldn’t be tracked. This meant that no matter how hard we tried, we couldn’t open the drawer.
While the Move batons can sometimes be a little fiddly and awkward to use, we still feel they are an integral part of the PlayStation VR experience. Yes, using a DualShock 4 controller to interact with the virtual world is okay, but it’s not as immersive as reaching out and interacting with the virtual environment, even if the hands do jitter around every now and again.
Performance
We’ve spent more time than we care to admit playing a variety of games on PlayStation VR. However, before examining its performance we’ll take a look at the differences between the PS4 and the PS4 Pro.
Sony’s standard console provides users with a decent VR experience. During testing, the textures were detailed enough for it to be believable, the framerate didn’t drop beneath 60fps and we didn’t encounter any visible lag or screen tearing. That’s impressive when you consider it’s powered by a console that was first released in 2013. Yes, the 3D models are occasionally pixellated and when inspecting the environment up-close you may find it isn’t as clearly defined as you thought, but it’s still a decent option.
However, when we ran a PS4 Pro-supported VR game such as PlayStation Worlds (of which London Heist is a mini game) on Sony’s supercharged console, the headset comes into its own. As its resolution can’t be increased, developers can put the extra graphical power into higher quality textures, better lighting and other features that make the experience more immersive. The difference between the two consoles is immediately noticeable; models are rarely pixellated, textures look real enough to touch and the experience is much more enjoyable.
It’s amazing to see the little details produced by the PS4 Pro’s extra power. Of course, the quality varies from game to game, but the potential for amazing VR experiences is possible. When you consider that the HTC Vive costs the same as the PlayStation VR headset and PlayStation 4 Pro console combined, Sony has achieved something remarkable.
While we played a variety of PlayStation VR games, including Farpoint, Robinson: The Journey and Battlezone, here’s our favourite.
The London Heist
The London Heist is a minigame and part of PlayStation VR Worlds. At one point in the experience, we found ourselves in the passenger seat of a white transit van next to an East London gangster, complete with a bald head and thick cockney accent. We were being chased by a Russian gang on bikes and in cars, and it was up to this reviewer to stop the pursuit. The gangster slid a gun across the dashboard, which we reached out and grabbed, and opened fire on our pursuers.
One area of The London Heist that added to the experience was having to manually reload weapons. As we had full control of both of our virtual hands, it was up to us to reload the gun when it ran out of bullets by reaching out, grabbing an ammo clip from the bag next to us and shoving it into the bottom of the gun.
As exploding cars flipped around us and bodies went flying, we completely forgot that we were at home in our living room. As far as we were concerned, we were a gun-toting East London gangster shooting up a rival gang on an empty motorway – and it was great.
Verdict
The world that PlayStation VR is going to open for gamers around the world is exciting, and is much more affordable than the high-end VR headsets without trading in on the experience. We’re confident that gamers will enjoy what Sony is offering, and with so many developers actively developing for the platform, it looks to be a solid contender in the VR popularity race.