Positive VR
The state of virtual reality is obviously subjective, but I felt your article on the current market was not very informative and somewhat negative. VR is quite alive in really cool ways, such as racing drones, racing games, and flight simulators. IMHO, VR is the best thing
to happen to simulation and FPV drones (I am not into games). For example, if you look at flight simulation, even Microsoft has decided to get back in the game shortly, and VR will be required.
Another thing about flight simulation is there is no such thing as a maximum PC. More power means more realism, and today’s computers can’t keep up with what the software can do. I run 2K per eye in VR, and it is great. I can’t turn on all the features, because my GTX 1080 Ti can’t keep up.
Try flying a real drone in VR and tell me it isn’t great. This technology goes beyond PCs, but it is groundbreaking for some uses and is getting better. 2.5 HD screens in each eye is amazing. – Bill Cullen STAFF WRITER, CHRISTIAN
GUYTON, RESPONDS: It’s fair to say that VR does have applications beyond gaming, and personally we’d love to see the VR market improve and broaden. There are a few reasons why we didn’t discuss topics such as drones, though: The global market for drone racing (not exclusively VR drones, either) is currently valued around two billion US dollars, while the VR gaming market was valued at over 10 billion in 2018, and has far higher predicted growth. Similarly, the flight simulator market is valued around four billion USD, but the majority of that isn’t in consumer software.
There’s also the question of cost. One of our biggest issues with VR is the initial buy- in price, which needs to come down as the global divide between the rich and poor widens if VR is going to truly become a widespread technology.
Add a powerful system and a good- quality racing drone or flight sim software on top of that, and VR becomes a difficult area to break into for many people.
We agree that the potential is there for some really awesome stuff as both VR and PC hardware improve, and we genuinely would like to see VR implemented in more areas, but right now it feels like it hasn’t quite reached the place it needs to be.