Wow

[Damocles]

Got my Rift CV1 today and gave DCS a whirl, all I can say is WOW.

 

It's far from perfect, but the feeling of being in the pit is just phenomenal. I can't wait for CV2.

 

The 3D pit's are utterly wasted on non VR users, they're just incredible, I never truly appreciated the work that goes into them until now.

 

The down side, obviously is the resolution. Yes it sucks, and yes I can see screen door quite clearly, guns combat will be a pain, but you know what, I couldn't go back, I've glimpsed the future and it's just awesome.

 

Funnily enough, while the pit's look considerably better, the externals look worse, not because they're bad, but you just don't see the glorious detail that we've become accustomed too , because of the resolution and screen door.

 

Another thing I like, although I've got a bit of a stiff neck at the moment, so it's not ideal, is the real world limitations of looking around over your shoulder etc. It will definitely add a fatigue factor to air combat.

[hansangb]

Damocles, wait until you can fly while tracking the SAM streaking towards you. And you're looking out over the cockpit. It's UNBELIEVABLE!

[Purg]

Same experience here. I noticed so many new things in the cockpit that I never did on a flat screen. Even looking at a simple switch or a button - hey, they look like real switches!

 

In the A-10C, something you can see on a flat screen is how the ADI sits in it's housing. Mind blown when I saw that on my first jaunt.

 

First thing I did when friends came over to check it out was to load up DCS, close their eyes while they put on the headset, hit num-5 to center and get them to open up. Most of them were astonished, one of them freaked out. She was scared of heights and felt real 'presence'.

[Krupi]

I have a DK2 unfortunately it is stuck in the USA.

 

Do you guys think you would be able to use it to dogfight in the WWII aircraft?

[Kayos]

WOW was the first thing that came to mind the first time I saw it too.

The cockpits are just amazing. Landing is much easier too with more depth perception.

[hansangb]

Krupi,

I think so. DK2 is very very immersive. Especially for WWII where you don't have to worry about MFDs etc. Orientation, spatial awareness, all things you simply cannot get with TrackIR. I know as a *long* time TrackIR user.

[Krupi]

Awesome thank for the reply Hansangb, well not too long to wait should arrive around June/July.

 

Now I just need to decided what parts of my rig need to be upgraded.

[Damocles]

I was a little concerned, before getting my Rift that I would feel restricted because of the "limited" field of view. I used to play with triple screens and TrackIR and given all the chatter during development of the Rift I expected to have to temper my experience to allow for this.

 

I needn't have worried.

 

The view can certainly be compared to looking through a ski mask or dive goggles but having said that, 90% of the time, it's just not a factor that you're really aware of. The restriction only really makes itself apparent when checking six or trying to look up and you have to make an extra effort, if possible, to try and get that little bit extra that you would expect to see.

 

There is a big plus side though. My experience suggests that you notice far more of what is actually going on around you. A lot of the little details of what was happening in the cockpit, in the past, went largely unnoticed by me, even when using a triple monitor that maybe showed more of the cockpit than normal. Now I notice far more of what is happening in the cockpit and possibly, once I have a little more going on around me, outside the cockpit as well. Peripheral vision within the environment seems to be working more naturally within the sim, with movement and contrast helping to pick out events that before might very well have passed, completely unnoticed unless I happened to be looking directly at them or was expecting them, and probably looked directly at them anyway.

[Justin Case]

I'll just quickly summarise my first impression here. Wow!

 

The low resolution and narrow FOV are minor problems in the grand scheme of things, but I'm excited to see where VR will be in 5-10 years. My biggest problem was having to wear my glasses under the headset...nerd 4 ever I guess.