John Hargreaves

I love reading people's first time in a rift posts, they never get stale. Glad you like it Don, it's one of the best things I've ever bought. I've set up a really simple mission that is just a landing in the Spitfire, and then take off if you wish (if you don't crash it) only takes a few minutes but I keep popping into it whenever I get chance. It's just a pleasure to be in that cockpit.

I found it pretty skittish at first, and I'm only one step above a beginner, but I set the curves in the cyclic and rudder pedals quite high (30ish) and it seemed to help me big time. I also fly the Gazelle mostly in VR now, and it helps a lot too, although that might not be so useful for you. If you do get chance to try VR though, it takes the whole thing to a new level entirely. Stick with it though it's a beautiful thing, like riding an angry wasp that took speed.

That's a very good point, most of my current favourite VR games; DCS, Project CARS, FSX, Aerofly FS2, were written long before VR came along, and they have been retro fitted to work (maybe not FS2) so it's pretty impressive they work in VR at all. Just think what will happen when VR support is deeply integrated into the game engines, a bright future ahead I hope. I think in the long term, driving and flying will be a pretty consistent niche for VR and as the headsets get more accessible, it will bring more people into the hobby.

I might well be getting my VR games mixed up in my head, as I guess the sun in DCS is not that strong, but in quite a few games - project CARS, Aerofly FS2, as the sun comes round at a certain angle it blinds you and I found myself holding up my hand the first time to shade my eyes. I also looked at my watch and wondered why the VR hands didn't move. Don't do it so much now that I've grown used to it, but it was pretty weird at first. It's probably something to do with having a brain that is easily fooled :doh:

Very much agree; compared to the hit many early adoptions of tech involve, I think the CV1 was quite reasonable. It was the same price as my monitor when I got it, certainly don't regret getting either one. I've been saving up for CV2 since the week I got my CV1, because if you could get the kind of definition and sharpness we enjoy on monitors these days, there would be no need to go out in the real world ever again.

Have you done the thing where you put up your hand to shield the sun coming into your eyes and wondered why the VR hand didn't move? :music_whistling:

It's quite a surprise to learn that, you'd think that a physics intensive sim like DCS would be making the most of every core they could get hold of, after all we've had multi core cpus for quite a while now. Is multi core planned for the future, or would that be too fundamental a rewrite of the engine? I suppose when you look at the AI physics/explosions etc you can see where compromises have had to be made, so that makes sense now. The age of VR might eventually signal the time that SLI comes of age and finds a purpose; there's something neat about the idea of one graphics card per eye.

That's really cool, like I say, testament to what ED have made here, very impressive. For somebody like me that has no prior experience of real helicopters, the Huey and Gazelle took a bit of effort, but I absolutely love them now, they feel like you can control them with your mind. I still need more practice, but that's called getting my money's worth out of the game.

For me it's a close battle between the Huey, Spitfire and Gazelle as to which is my favourite experience in the rift. There's something I'd describe as a three-dimensionality about he whole experience that you just don't get with a screen. Even triples or track IR don't compare to the way you can look over your shoulder from the cockpit by actually looking over your shoulder or the way you look up to see above your head. I know there are no G-forces involved, but it fools your brain sometimes where you could swear you did feel something through the seat of your pants. I think it brings something out of the subtlety and sophistication of the DCS flight model that is a cut above any other sim I've tried, especially in helicopters. To give an example, my son in law used to fly Lynx helicopters in the Army. Now he's never played a videogame or PC flight sim in his life, and I don't know about you guys, but it took me a long time to get the hang of flying the Huey. I put him in the DCS Huey with the rift on his head, and he just flew it. First time, no crashing or wobbling, he just flew it and had it doing all sorts of manoeuvres, saying yes that feels right, that would happen etc. Then he landed it, softly, first time. At that moment, DCS raised itself above the other sims for me. Thinking about how much time I've spent teaching myself to fly in various sims, how many crashes I've had and that he could just do it first time with no prior knowledge other than his real world experience. All credit to the devs for making something this accurate.

Regarding the rift headphones, the quality is certainly good, but for me the fact that they are built in (one less cable) and small, and the way they are integrated into the whole headset is a big plus for functionality. You flip them out like dog's ears, put the headset on then position the earpieces in place. The whole thing is well thought out and streamlined.

Hi sorry chaps, I probably didn't explain it very well, but I wasn't talking about being short sighted. What I was referring to was people with otherwise perfectly normal vision who don't have to wear glasses at all in general life, but as you get older, the lens in the eye is less flexible, so the muscles can't squash it as much and focus close up. Those are the people, like me, who can just buy reading glasses from the supermarket for a few quid. I think that was the case with the guy I was replying to. If you are short sighted then without glasses you can focus on close objects, and as you say, the rift image would be out of focus as it is set at a more distant focus point. You're quite right on the fact that the rift image doesn't actually have a true 3D space and gives an illusion using the convergence of the two images to give an effect similar to a 3D TV, because the eyes are converging on these different images it does indeed fool the brain. However, what it feels like when you are in the cockpit in the rift is entirely 3D, which I would suggest is more important. My original point was to try to help people who don't normally wear glasses (except for reading) make an informed choice about buying a rift, as I agree that there are a lot of conflicting points of view on the matter.

I pre ordered my rift and got it in the summer, and to be honest, it's getting better all the time. The picture quality has improved since release, due to various software tricks and updates. Agreed though that the definition is not as good as a normal 2D display. If you can imagine this, it's like being enclosed inside a spherical old fashioned CRT television that is all screen, 360deg in all directions around you, whilst wearing goggles and headphones. You can see the picture ok, but you are aware of the dot texture of the screen. The goggles limit the field of view if you keep your head still, but once you turn your head, there is 'infinite' fov. I've tried Project Cars 1+2, Live for Speed, FSX+FlyInside, AeroflyFS2, WarThunder, and they are all excellent and I would recommend any one of them, but IMO DCS is the best one for immersion because you can feel what the flight model is doing so much better, so the Huey, Gazelle, P-51 and Spitfire are all amazing. I think it makes it easier to fly too because you have this peripheral sense of the 3D movement of the aircraft and you can stick your head out the window if you need to. Also the sense of scale is striking, so landing the Huey on an aircraft carrier is great fun. Everything looks the right size like it never has in 2D. I can also recommend Manhattan in AeroflyFS2 for an amazing fR flying experience.

If you only wear glasses to focus up close, i.e. ageing eyes that just aren't as flexible as they once were, (like me) then I don't think you'll even need to worry about them. The way the rift lenses work, you are focusing on things at their real distance away from you, so the closest you'll need to focus is on the instrument panel, which is a couple of feet away. Looking out the window is just like in real life, you'll be focused on infinity or thereabouts. A lot of people think that because the lenses are just a few cm from your eyes, you have to focus on that distance, but it's not the case.

I came across this the other day, and thought it might be of interest here. Looks like some impressive photography and a bit of a different take on the documentary format as it's coming out in theatres. https://en-gb.facebook.com/spitfirethefeaturedoc/ There's an interesting article in the next Flypast magazine in the UK about the whole project, they managed to get three Mk1s together flying at once.

Thanks very much Chief, I'm very much a novice at all this flight sim malarkey, and I've found your three essays very useful to understand what is happening to the plane under various conditions. I've pretty much learned to fly sim planes through trial and error, and there are often times just like you describe here when I wondered how on earth I'd managed to crash after finally landing the thing and barely going jogging pace and the blimmin thing flips over for no apparent reason. Now I know there is a very good and logical reason, I can try to keep it in one piece. Thanks to you and the Wags video, I can now get the Spitfire in the air on most occasions, and I can just about get it on the runway on three wheels. Next task is to stop it flipping over at the end but I'm having fun doing it. It's very much appreciated that you and the other experienced flyers are happy to share your knowledge here, thanks again.

And I'm glad you left it there, as I've been looking for exactly this solution, cheers.:thumbup: