Explaining VR with real world examples.

[Pikey]

This is not a review, but I felt that explaining some of it's benefits specifically with DCS was worthwhile, I want the industry to succeed.

 

I remember life before VR. Then after trying it, coming out with the same old hackneyed tripe, "You just have to experience it". Explaining it is hard, but I stumbled across a different way whilst talking to my friends that will help. I'm going to talk about binocular vision and off-axis spatial awareness from a layman to another layman.

 

Last night, myself and two friends (one with and one without VR) were attempting to actually do a VR session that involved combat. I elected to do use the P-51D in a scramble mission because I felt this would be a very visual experience and use the 3 dimensional world nicely. By the end we were remarking on such matters as "VR-neck" and the possibility of injury in dogfight and had a very successful session.

 

Now how to explain this to a another virtual pilot.

 

Humans are built with two eyes, both front facing as are other mamalian predators. We dont have them at the side like cows, they are in the front. Binocular vision is key to hunting. We chase, we leap, we intercept moving targets. We throw, we avoid incoming missiles. Let's take a sporting analogy. If you visualise you are playing baseball, cricket or some other ball sport, your brain uses its binocular vision to cue distance and therefore speed. It's doign trigonometry without you knowing, the clever thing, and more...If you imagine that ball in flight, coming towards you, your eyes work together as they see TWO images, and they superimpose them to one in the brain. This allows us to estimate distance and speed of the object way better. The only way for you to truly appreciate what this advantage is, is for you to close one eye.

 

And there you have it. Your world lacks depth, your estimation when catching a ball is not as well tuned. I remember my brother had a problem with one eye and his sporting at school wasn't as good....not to say he couldn't do it, it was just naturally harder. Go try to play catch with one eye closed, it's somewhat uncomfortable, you WILL be less successful. On the UK Driving & Vehicle License Agency website, people with monocular vision are still allowed to drive, but it recommends a period of adjustment of 3 months with perfect sight in the other eye. It's just not as good. With ball sports I'd say the problem is worse.

 

So now to virtual piloting, especially formations and WVR combat. On the monitor we are monocular, whether you have two eyes or not, its one image. Having problems refuelling? You take your depth perceptions from one source...the apparent distance of the object. of course its 18 inches or so, there on the monitor, no focal change, let's hope the graphics settings and your brain can make up the shortfall. In VR, you have a percieved distance and you do change your focus. So weird when I realised I needed my glasses and now have to VR with contact lenses. I just thought, hey the image is 2 inches in front of my eyes. Nope! HUD set to infinity? Oh now that makes sense!!

 

With this, your brain has now got access to superior information. It can estimate speed and distance much better. Let's see now what VR brings us in a dogfight...

 

Firstly, turning circles can be visualised better. The relative performances of speed and the distance between yourself and your enemy can now be better understood by the part of your brain that plays sports...or used to hunt, a more primal and killer intinct is in play and you can really feel it. It is a clear advantage. WVR becomes something you can visualise in 3D space much better.

 

Now...I also alluded to 'off axis spatial awareness'. This is a term i made up, i'm talking about the ability to move forward whilst looking in another direction, which is pretty much what you do in a dogfight that you haven't won yet ;) With trackir, you have accelerated turning, it is not 1:1 for degrees of head to degrees of view on screen. This isn't a huge problem per se, but what VR gives you is the exact angle off boresight that the target plane is at, without actually you having to see it. You turn naturally to look at the plane, you know, if you closed your eyes, where it is in your mind. Again...spatial awareness jumps up how many notches here? Lots I can tell you.

 

With VR you spend much of your time looking around, and its quite frantic in the cockpit in a dogfight as you make efforts to locate the bandit, but one thing you can do with your new off boresight spatial awareness is ANTICIPATE THE PREDICTED MOVEMENT OF THE TARGET THROUGH PARTS OF OBSCURITY. What I mean by that is that you can follow the plane and track it through and under your fuselage, wings or parts of canopy so much easier. Let's remember the old adage.... "lose sight, lose the fight". Well how many times i've lost a target with Trackir as it went through the canopy bars or slid behind me and I had to go from max degrees right to max degrees left and bam, trackir went squiffy or something. It just doesn't really happen in VR because your head movement, your new awareness and your ability to rely on instinct, kicks in and you move your head to where the bandit would be whilst directing your plane at the same time using more of your natural inbuilt human predator skills. It's just pretty normal to reacquire.

 

So that's the good news. Will it make you a Top Gun ace? Ha, no. I think I could learn more from WVR practice now, especially performing scissors, but it's not a silver bullet. And then there is the view quality and distance. Pre engagement its not good. I do see a point of model enlargement now though, previously I hated even the thought of it, but this could make up for what reminds me honestly of my army basic shooting test when I put on my gas mask for the 300 metre shot and hadnt cleaned it properly. I still dont care if I hit anything that day, i just needed to get 20 rounds off as fast as possible before I choked to death. OK VR was THAT bad :) but it is like looking through a gas mask that isn't well cleaned (minus the CS). Simming has this problem inherently. i think as long as everyone is equal I can deal with having poor detection.

 

Lastly, there is a bit of what I can only describe as "Faff" when setting up for VR - not having the benefit of the F10 map, not seeing the keyboard for the occasional thing, not seeing labels in the cockpit well (i turn them off because i find them too large and unimmersive), things that a computer multi screen workspace gives you that get lost in the all encompassing VR. This is a design bridge we will get over soon. We will eventually need to track our hands in the cockpit, to guide the in game hand to the 3D switch using hand tracking that is on its way, but not there yet. AT that moment, we will be there., that and the resolution. But its enough right now for me and I'm lucky to have experienced VR. It is still, just another peripheral though and it will spend time on your desk unused. It just happens to be the the most exciting one I have ever met.

[hansangb]

Great post. The 4K + TiR crown can crow about the obvious resolution benefits. But you can never *fully* explain why everyone is gaga over immersion. I love to just *FLY* now. It's a blast just flying around.

[Goblin]

I agree... It is hard to explain to someone who never tried VR, but breaking it down to reality is a good idea.

One thing that baffles me is that you believe in the virtual environment, even if you clearly are watching a computer generated image.

Graphics are good, even at low settings. But not so good you mistake graphics for reality. Even so, you look at a part of your aircraft, and your eyes shift focus between near and far objects, just like when looking at something in the real world. You need to turn your head 90 degrees to see your wing, just like IRL. I am amazed at how quickly the brain adapts to the virtual world, and start believing in what they eyes are seeing.

[Pikey]

Yep it is incredible. The wow doesnt go either.

[JanTelefon]

Great summary! My Oculus Rift is in the mail. :)