Chivas

Vive has Steam, but very little of the Steam content has VR implementation. The Oculus VR store is all VR content, that they have been funding and supporting for two years longer than HTC/Valve. There is no way Steam will catch up in six months. Eventually maybe, so in the meantime they will need a killer app to command the larger market share. If Vive doesn't have the killer app "Most" people will preorder the less costly unit with more content. Better HMD specs will also be a major factor, but I don't see the Vive unit being significantly better than the Rift. Infact its more likely to be the other way around, considering Oculus's considerable resource advantage.

My guess is the Rift will be...399. Rift/Touch... 499 Vive/Wands... close to 600, but no where near 1000. Factors: Rift will supposedly sell near cost. Lighthouse is more expensive to produce Oculus should get a discount price for the OLED displays from Samsung. I don't think Vive makes their own displays, and would have to contract them out, from the forty or so available OLED display makers. Other Factors: Headset Specs should be fairly close, but both could still have tricks up their sleeves. The Rift should have the most content, since Oculus has been funding and supporting VR content for over two years. Most of which uses xbox type controllers which Oculus is providing for next to nothing thanks to Microsoft wanting to get their foot in the VR door. BUT ,,,, We don't know which developer will have the best available content. The Vive should come out sooner, but I wouldn't hold my breath trying to get one this year.

I'm still currently leaning toward the Rift, because of Oculus's huge advantage in human/financial resourses, partnerships, years of content investment/support, and the purchace of more than a few Tech companies that could significantly add to their consumer product. Of course other developers could still develop a better mouse trap with a killer app. At this point knowing which developer will make the best first consumer version is unknowable, and writing off Oculus is folly. By far most of the reviews by professional, and amateur reviewers compared the Vive with earlier Rift prototypes. There is no doubt that the Vive is a very good HMD, but these reviews were truly misleading, especially for people who haven't followed the VR headset progression. The few reviews I've seen that actually compared the latest prototypes, could see little difference between the quality of the headsets, and tracking latencies. The only difference is the amount of freedom of movement, that is not relavent in the combat flight sim contect. The actual amount of movement is still an unknown, until the Touch inputs, Rift dual tracker prototypes are further along in development, and Vive tracking optimized. It would be nice to be able to run from the Ready Hut to our aircraft, or walkaround aircraft checks, but that can't be simulated in a 15x15 room. The teleportation feature in the Rift bullet demo may be an option, or just running/walking on a spot, but that could be simulated with 4x4 tracking. I don't get the 15x15 roomscale movement hype, its actually still too small an area to really simulate much. I suppose it could simulate racket ball/handball or some aspects of submarine sims quite well. Large area/multi room commercial VR arcades could work very well. At this point few people if any actually know which unit will be better, especially for flight sims. Nobody has been able to compare the final versions of either unit. We've seen the latest prototypes, but for obvious reasons they've withheld some of the specs of these devices, suggesting they could change, and other features added. The Rift/Vive developmers currently watching their consumer versions coming off their assembly lines are wondering if their products are actually better. There is a reason the actual final specs/features/content/price are being kept a secret by both developments.

That would mean something to me if the reviewer had stated which Oculus Rift prototype he had a brief spin on. I just did a quick perusal of his review and noted a few mistakes like stating the Vive was only 90hz while the Rift is 120 hz. Both the latest Vive and Rift prototypes are 90hz. No word yet if those specs have changed unless he has some inside knowledge, which I doubt.

The devils in the details. Details can make a huge difference in the quality of the experience. We don't know the Pixel count, Sub-Pixel arrangement, color, details on the different VR custom lenses, and how well the VR optic software combines the qualities of the custom lenses, with the particular display used. There are over forty OLED display manufacturers, and Oculus has a partnership with one of them {Samsung} who could manufacturer a custom display with better VR qualities, at a cheaper price point. I don't know if HTC manufacturers displays, or has to contract out the display, and if so is their display manufacturer interested in making displays with better VR qualities at this time. Samsung has manufactured smartphone displays with VR features for their GearVR headsets. We don't know if those displays have any hidden VR features that will also work well with the Rift, or have they made a custom VR display explicitly for the Rift. There are far too many unanswered questions. Many of those questions could be answered when both units are open to preorders near the end of this year. I will preorder the best VR unit for the flight sims I want to fly, even if one cost a few hundred dollars more than the other. I just don't know yet. I jumped on the Oculus bandwagon long before I new Vive would be on the market. I haven't seen anything yet from Vive that would make me think they will be better for flight sims. I could easily change my mind, but will wait for more facts to immerge.

I'm surprised at how many people in this and other forums have decided to buy one over the other, when nobody knows the final specs, content, and price of either one yet.

Its awesome that DCS appears to be effectively implementing the HTC Vive headset. I may be able to fly DCS this year with a consumer version headset, but there are still a lot of unanswered questions about final specs of either unit Even if the specs are comparable it may be difficult to procure the Vive even if they manage the proposed "limited" release this year. Now that DCS is working with HTC, and Oculus, it would sure help to find out which unit the developers preferred but its unlikely they will suggest one way or the other anytime soon. We don't even know it they have access to later prototypes than the DK2

Its awesome that DCS appears to be effectively implementing the HTC Vive headset. I may be able to fly DCS this year with a consumer version headset, but there are still a lot of unanswered questions about final specs of either unit Even if the specs are comparable it may be difficult to procure the Vive even if they manage the proposed "limited" release this year. Now that DCS is working with HTC, and Oculus, it would sure help to find out which unit the developers preferred but its unlikely they will suggest one way or the other anytime soon. :( We don't even know it they have access to later prototypes than the DK2.

Now your making me uncomfortable. ;] That said I'm sure squads would love it. In the future I can see squad leaders standing infront of the war map detailing their missions. With each member having their own persona and style, so you know who to look at when your giving them the stick. :) edit... when I actually think about it, the social aspect of gaming can be far more immersive than offline gaming....my most immersive experiences in flight sims were partnering with people from around the world in the flight sim environment. Many people have derided Oculus when they partnered with Facebook, saying that Facebook would turn the Rift from a gaming peripheral to a social peripheral. It never happened, as Facebook just poured more money into making the best possible VR headset, as they understood that a great gaming headset would also translate into a great social headset. The Social aspect only enhances the experience of any sim.

The single camera DK2 "prototype" wasn't optimized for large room scale simming. I'm sure you won't have any problems doing your simulated walk around aircraft check with the dual tracking Vive and Rift units. The Touch inputs may even be better for performing aircraft checks with their more inherent hand dexterity possibilities. The Vive wands will be better suited in their current form for ground crews marshalling aircraft. That said we have no idea what the final specs of either units are yet. I've looked forward to the day we could have the OPTION to socialize, and plan missions in the ready room, and run to the aircraft when scrambled. BUT nobody would have a room that large, so some sort simulated motion would have to be incorporated. So it would make absolutely no difference if your usable VR space was 6x6 or 15x15.

Vive might work better, but you would still need a lot of room. If you can fit a fighter jet into one of the rooms in your house ... you should be fine. This is exactly why I don't get the hype of room scale VR. I don't see that many applications of running around in a relatively small room. I guess we could run on a spot simulating much greater areas, then it wouldn't matter if our VR room is 15x15 or 10x10. We could also fight off Zombies trying to take over World "room" domination. I see they are now experimenting with teleportation from one small area to another small area which should have many applications.

Oculus has hired quality sound engineers to add headphones too their CV1 HMD, Vive has also suggested they will incorporate headphones into their consumer version aswell. This will certainly help game developer sound engineers when they know exactly how their games will sound, as opposed to having their games sound completely different on hundreds of different quality sound headsets. Of course people will be able to still use their own sound solutions, if they feel it suits them better.

Now that DCS has fixed the frame rate reading while in the Rift, has anyone with a very highend system been able to attain a steady 90FPS with relatively high game settings? A steady 90+fps could be very important for the consumer Rift and Vive headsets.

I think Oculus got it right. I will be able to buy a Rift much cheaper, as I won't need the Wands, or two Tracking units for flight/racing sims etc. If I want to have full room movement I can buy the Touch units, and extra Tracking unit later. Not sure why people keep suggesting that the Rift is only a seated experience. I found it funny that Vive also has the same problem having to continually stress at shows, that they can do sitting as well as standing. Oculus has been showing standing and movement long before we even new Vive was going to sell an HMD. They weren't stressing that option because there was the obvious safety issues moving around blind, few people would have the room, and the fact there was little software being created for that kind of movement at the time.

There is no doubt the resolution of the DK2 prototype isn't good enough. We don't know if the CV1's dual higher resolution VR custom displays, custom built lenses, and new optics software are good enough, BUT there is no contest on the immersion factor between a cockpit with multiple displays and a VR headset even with its perceived lower resolution. There is no doubt that a home built cockpit and multiple monitors is an immersive experience, BUT the depth of VR transports you into a cockpit that actually feels like your thousands of feet in the air, while you know your sitting on the ground with any other option. Most people after experiencing the CV1 will have little interest in flying with monitors, and will have saved themselves a lot of money to boot.

@Bunjap....did you try the new option to increase the size of distant aircraft and targets, and does it help spotting aircraft in VR? I doubt we will have a problem reading gauges with the CV1's new dual higher resolution custom Samsung VR displays. I would imagine they will have VR enhanced pixel, sub-pixel arrangements, with less space between pixels. Combined with an Oculus custom lenses, and optimized optic software the perceived resolution might be good enough for distant objects aswell.

Early reports from DCS suggest that Vive support is doable, but no word if they have the time to do it. We have to very careful when a reviewer suggests that one unit is better than the other. Not one review compares the consumer versions of these headsets. There are no consumer versions out yet to compare. All the reviews are just comparing prototypes, some even comparing one companies latest prototype to another companies early prototype. There is a lot of misinformation out there, so I would take most reviews with a grain of salt. We should have much better info in late Oct/Nov if in-fact Vive is still going to release some consumer units this year. You can bet that Oculus will release their final specs the moment Vive does. Then we can make a far more informed decision on which hardware would best suit our needs. Both companies have kept their final specs/content/price very close to their chest. Oculus is just now reviewing the consumer versions coming off their assembly lines to see if any tweaks have to be done before full scale production starts. No word yet from HTC Vive, but they must have consumer version coming off their assembly lines aswell if they hope to release some units this year. I think Vive will have a major announcement around Oct 20th. Good times ahead. Both companies use different tracking methods, and one might be slightly more precise than the other, but most users haven't noticed any difference in latencies. Oculus has suggested they tried all solution, and went with the camera option because it was easier to track full body movement, and facial expressions. Personally I will be using VR primarily in flight sim situations, where tracking has few if any occlusion situations. It also should be much cheaper than the Vive as I will only need to buy the Rift version with one camera and no inputs. That said I will probably buy the Vive and all versions of the Rift. I have the DK2, but its not a very good experience because its impossible to setup my particular IPD, and it effects all aspects of the overall headset. Consequently any review I would give would be skewed. Thankfully both companies will have physical IPD adjustments on their consumer version

I've heard there are still a lot of issues to overcome before its ready. I can't remember what the issues were, but hopefully they will be overcome, as that field of view is awesome.

Palmer Luckey talks advantages of the Rift’s custom lenses http://uploadvr.com/palmer-luckey-talks-advantages-rifts-custom-lenses/

I can only see the top left portion of the startup screen. I can login, but can't see all of the option screen. It says the game resolution is 't1980x1020, but I can't see the accept change button. My monitor is set @1980x1020. The last beta worked fine, and haven't changed anything other than installing Microsoft VCdirect64bit ??? to fix my missing DLL problem after the 1.5 install. ???? :(

Palmer Luckey Explains Why the Oculus Rift Will Cost “More than $350” http://www.roadtovr.com/oculus-founder-palmer-luckey-explains-oculus-rift-cost-price-350/ I'm all for making the best possible VR headset, and don't mind paying more to get the best VR experience at this stage of VR's development, but hopefully they still plan to sell their hardware near cost. It was very interesting to hear that the displays will be even more technologically advanced than ones in the latest demoed headsets. The deals with Facebook, and Samsung are definitely paying off, considering the hundreds of custom parts, and specially built VR displays, that would never have happened without Facebook, and Samsung partnerships.

3 monitor setups are awesome and let you look into a much bigger world than single monitor setups, but VR puts you into that world. :) Personally I'm putting my upgrades off until I find out exactly which gpu hardware/software works best in VR. It could be much cheaper, and more immersive than the very cool 3 monitor setup, with MFD's. BUT is still remains to be seen if the resolution and frame rates will be good enough for flight sim VR.:(

AMD is working very closely with Oculus, and Vive trying to develop their hardware and software to best suit the requirements of VR. Infact some aspects of the current AMD hardware/software tech is better suited to VR than NVidia's. I'm not a fanboy of either gpu company and have always bought the one that best suits my needs. I'm still running a GTX580, and won't upgrade until I find out which new gpu hardware/software is better suited to the VR HMD hardware I decide to buy, in conjunction with the flight sim software that I want to run on it. I've also waited until now to decide which smartphone upgrade to make. I wasn't interested in mobile VR, but now that the new GearVR headset has been announced at 99 dollars, and can use almost any Samsung Galaxy phone. The amount of content available is staggering. I may just have to get me one of those. :) Samsung appears to have adopted the Oculus plan to sell their VR hardware near cost. Yes we still have to buy or have the required smartphones, but 99 dollars is an incredible price. They even gave free new GearVR's and Microsoft input devices to everyone at Connect 2. It will be interesting to see if HTC Vive can afford to follow suit.

I agree, it becomes quite easy to find the correct switch etc with very little practice. I don't know about jet pilots but WW2 pilots were trained to find their aircraft systems blindfolded. BUT I'm a little bias as I have little interested in jet systems/aircraft and more interested in the far less complicated WW2 aircraft pits currently in DCS development.

Elite Dangerous has announced support for the HTC Vive, and hope to have that support ready for the HTC Vive release this year. If they are able to complete implementation, and the Vive is actually available to the general public this year, I will definitely put more consideration into buying the Vive. The fact that ED are successfully implementing VIVE support, it bodes well for DCS's potential Vive implementation, but there are still far to many unknowns on the difference between the Rift and Vive to make a wise decision.