John Hargreaves

This is starting to look very interesting Worth paying attention at 9m:50s

I think you would be the sort of person for whom Rift S makes the most sense. I can see a good case for going with the S as a first step into VR. It is quite good value for money, decent resolution and tracking, ideal for getting into VR. For those who have been onboard for 2-3 years, I think it's a far less compelling purchase, just not enough of an upgrade from CV1.

One of my biggest doubts about the S is the sound. Looks a bit weedy to me, and the strap looks too bulky to get a decent set of headphones over it.

Please post some feedback when you get it up and running, the 5K+ is the most interesting piece of VR kit around at the moment, if you can get one.

+2 Love to see one of these in DCS, but there are very few left in the world, it would be difficult to get reference other than plans and model kits. I would be happy with best guess physics and a beautiful 3D model.

I've had the Thrustmaster TFRP ones and they were very good value for money to get started with. They weren't in the same league quality wise as the VKB ones I have now, but they functioned perfectly well for fixed wing aircraft. They weren't great for helicopters though, which has become my favourite type of flying. They had a bit of stiction so the very fine inputs necessary for helicopters was a bit frustrating, but for things like the Spitfire or the Mustang they were fine where you are booting the rudder back and forth to avoid a ground loop. The VKB MkIVs are lovely pedals for rotorcraft, it's easy to get very fine and subtle movements out of them and they are a quality piece of kit, similar to the warthog joystick in construction. The main drawback as mentioned above is the lack of a toebrake function, which isn't necessary for helicopters (or the Spitfire for that matter). Apparently there is a software workaround but I haven't tried that.

Not sure if OP is running VR, but that opens up a whole new world with helicopters. +1 for the Huey from me, it's the most 'helicoptery' one to fly: no assists, very convincing flight model and it feels amazing in VR just to pootle around landing on things, you don't even need to shoot stuff to have a good time.

Just don't pull that big EJECT handle:music_whistling: Nice set up mate :thumbup:

That's a bit of a shame, I was rather hoping they would have added that by now. Makes a very big difference imo.

From someone who isn't on Facebook, thankyou for posting that update, much obliged.

Piper Cub/L4 Grasshopper. Best of both worlds

I can't see how it is so difficult for Oculus to tether a standalone HMD to a PC, you'd just bypass the onboard processing unit and use the output to screen and the tracking. Equally, the Rift is inherently a less complex device as it has no onboard cpu, so it either should be cheaper than a standalone, or a much better screen for the same price.

If we are looking for a 'who shot CV2' culprit, in my opinion it's Nvidia, with Intel as an accomplice. The price of entry for a decent VR capable PC, with a gpu/cpu combo that can adequately push all those pixels is still far too high. By now, two years down the line from release, VR should be playable on the 'average' PC, not a high end machine. The silly pricing of the 20XX series hasn't helped either. I sincerely hope CV2 is still in the pipeline, but if they can't make money out of it, you can't blame them for putting it on hold.

I found the most striking thing was that the commentary was recorded live at the time during a real bombing raid. The journalist Wynford Vaughan-Thomas, a BBC war correspondent and sound recordist, Reg Pidsley must have known that they could be killed, but went along anyway. The journalists and those young lads in the bomber crews were made of different stuff indeed.

It buys you a raffle ticket for the DLSS/RTX prize draw; maybe you win, maybe you don't. The RTX cards also have the new USB-C video output for next gen VR headsets, so if they appear during the lifespan of the card then you are good too. Or maybe none of that will happen, who knows

Very well put, I totally agree. I'd suggest that having rudder pedals makes a big difference, as did removing the big spring from my warthog joystick (desirable but not essential). You can also set your throttle to go the other way to fixed wing (pull towards you for increased collective pitch) as well to get the feel closer to a helicopter. If you get really into it you might go for a collective, but that fix will certainly get you going. It's a lot of fun and very satisfying once you get the hang of it.

I've just gone from a 1070 to a 2080, and it has been about 50% improvement, so the 25-30% mentioned above sounds about right. In DCS I am still on quite low cpu/gpu usage, as the game engine can't make use of all the available power at this time. It did however get me over the magic 45fps in VR, so I'm generally pleased with the difference. My honest opinion is that if I had a 1080 I probably wouldn't have done it, as it is a lot of money for a fairly modest performance boost. If we get Vulkan/DLSS down the line it might be a different story however.

Great post, this forum really needs a like button. I really like the Gazelle, but I can't help feeling that aspects of its flight model aren't quite as believable as the Huey, especially that sense of weight when you first get it up in the air. Trouble is I don't have enough experience in the real world to make this any more than a gut feeling, so I keep quiet and observe. Feedback like this from Damcopter hits the nail on the head for me. If this last little bit could be sorted, it would make the Gazelle for me the best of the helicopters in DCS, and it seems that Borchi & co have a really healthy and positive approach to improving it and making it the best they can. I love the Gazelle module and really appreciate the effort that the team are putting in. It's impressive to see the devs remaining open minded and constantly looking for ways to make it even better. Once the Gazelle is up in the air it feels like a masterpiece to me the way tiny flicks of the collective make it obey your thoughts. Feels agile and is a joy to fly. In response to the OP, I think DCS allows such good helicopter simulation, I can't imagine not having every one they make. TL,DR - buy them all.

I think it's a bit disappointing that we might have a proper highly experienced Gazelle pilot contributing to the forum and there is so much energy going into discrediting or doubting his point of view, rather than seeing it as valuable feedback that has the potential to benefit us all. Surely we can be a bit more respectful and listen to what Damcopter has to say?

I see all one needs to do is wait patiently and ones questions will be answered. Happy to see the new oil and gas platforms, it will help to bring the world to life.

None of us are getting any younger, if you have the cash, spend it. There won't be many DCS benchmarks on the mainstream tech sites anyway, so you'll be doing us a favour anyway when you install and report back. Everyone on 'The Internet' is telling you not to buy one, which in itself is a good enough reason to pull the trigger I reckon.

I do like the weathering on the cockpit interiors myself, glad this is getting some attention. Compared to some newer P-51s available for some other sims, this one was noticeably lagging behind I think, but it deserves some tlc to bring it to the standard of the artwork in other newer DCS modules. Great news, always liked this plane.

The last news I saw on the BO-105 project was this https://www.helisimmer.com/articles/what-ever-happened-dcs-bo-105/ back in June.

Ah yes, that little icon at the bottom is the secret so that it shows a plan view of the assets. Anyway, thanks guys, I have modified my little practice mission so that my carriers now have a bit of life on them. It seems that only certain static objects will show up on a carrier, but they look much better now with a few Harriers and Hornets around.