External views

[Damocles]

Does the VR experience add, or change, the flying experience enough that external views aren't really needed any more when flying ?

 

I'm not saying you wouldn't ever get to see a 3D representation of the aircraft, but maybe just not once you hit the fly button.

 

It would be still nice to have a sense of your aircraft, livery etc, but once you fly, the notion of being in the cockpit and physically present is very strong and thus flipping to external views may, in future be less important.

 

One reason I ask is because I wondered if it might lead to modules being easier to develop if developers don't need to go into the fine detail and animation that might be required for traditional external views.

[SkateZilla]

3D Depth Perception,

Looking around w/ Your Head in 1:1 Scale/Tracking.

[SharpeXB]

I fly from the cockpit view exclusively (with TrackIR). But I can't help pausing the game every so often and just admiring the aircraft and filling my hard drive with screenshots. DCS is a gorgeous game. I'm curious how external views look in VR. Like flying alongside a life sized plane? That would be sorta incredible.

[hansangb]

You know..now that you mention it, I haven't gone to an external view since I started using DK2. Huh...I never thought about it until now.

[Damocles]

3D Depth Perception,

Looking around w/ Your Head in 1:1 Scale/Tracking.

 

.???

 

Not sure what you mean.

 

I suppose the first question one might ask is WHY, why do we have external views ? I don't necessarily mean the obvious answer but a deeper, feeling of physical presence, need that maybe jumping into externals provides .

 

I just wonder if the VR experience makes external views, a legacy of computer flight sims from the year dot, redundant ? It's obviously nice to see the external aircraft flying around, but will they really be needed in the same way as before ?

 

Like I mentioned earlier, it's not purely a philisofical question, while I think the cockpits are great in VR, I think as VR fidelity improves, they will increasingly look only adequate and the bar will need to be raised in terms of finess and quality. If. External views, or at least in the extreme detail we now have are redundant then maybe resources can be directed to that end instead. Maybe external views of a players aircraft would only need to be on a par with A.I aircraft, saving both development resources and also computational resources ?

[SharpeXB]

Imagine watching replays of your missions in VR from 3rd person. Like placing yourself on the ground to watch the bombs strike their targets or looking at a fly by. In VR

That's awesome. Many VR games feature a 3rd person view so it's not unheard of.

[SkateZilla]

So you're saying we dont need External Views no More?

[Damocles]

Ok, I stand corrected.

 

I thought that detailed external views of the players aircraft might be superfluous with the advent of VR. I was wrong. Two reasons, first I just enjoyed flying around in the 109 and the externals of my aircraft where very enjoyable. I'm not sure if I got the same feeling flying any of the other modules I've tried or if it was just the particular environmental circumstances. Secondly, jumping to external helped suppress feelings of queasiness.