Will Oculus kill Home-Cockpits?

[HugePanic]

I have always had the idea of starting a cockpit build sometime...

 

Right now I am not really sure about that.

 

Sure it is great to have real switches and instruments. But for a "total immersion" you would need many many screens and stuff....

 

The different approach would be the rift, or any similar device.

 

All the switches have to be clicked with the mouse, and taking notes (jtac) will be a PITA.

Given a good display resolution, I would not have to use zoom function, but I could use it as binoculars...

 

Beside joystick (hotas, collective, ...) I would only need a mouse. Finding the mouse with the left hand should not be any problem...

 

On the other hand I have a perfect cockpit in every aircraft, ALL is working as-designed. I have full 3d effects and maybe also sound....

 

Let the future Rift+ (with upgraded resolution and DCSW support) cost 1000$, it will still be pretty cheap compared to cockpit build...

 

So what do you think?

[BHawthorne]

I always get a chuckle out of people who post binary premises. There are any number of options for people to do, Oculus Rift is just one of them. The main reason why people do simpits is for tactile feedback on controls. You don't get that with virtual cockpit using a Rift. You miss the point overall for simpits. Simpit builders want more than just "joystick (hotas, collective, ...)" and "... a mouse". The consumer Rift will be $300. It's always been promised at that price point.

Edited September 9, 2013 by BHawthorne

[Bigby Wolf]

All the switches have to be clicked with the mouse, and taking notes (jtac) will be a PITA.

 

Data gloves? Don't know if they're really being produced yet. Just seen experiments.

[Flim]

The rift is pretty sweet.... but I'm still building a pit as well, A-10 and F-18.

[Hunden Ynk]

And I can imagine that the joy of building, to make it yourself, is huge - if your into that kind of stuff that is.

[HornetUK]

I personally think for a flight sim such as the A-10 or black shark this is a bit of a non starter. There are so many controls to press that you would have problems with a mouse in the goggles. It may look better but I think it is going to slow down your responses to things as specially when in combat situation where you have many buttons to press all over the place at the same time as being shoot at.

 

Unless someone has a way round this?

[Levinsky]

Hi guys,

 

Personally myself I'm building mine partly just for the fun and challenge of the build. Certainly flying in it (even in a half baked stage) is pretty cool as well. :)

 

Ken.

[Intrepid1]

Hi guys,

 

Personally myself I'm building mine partly just for the fun and challenge of the build. Certainly flying in it (even in a half baked stage) is pretty cool as well. :)

 

Ken.

I have to agree with you on that one Ken, although the visuals might be great with this newer tech. I still think really touching and feeling a personally homebuilt cockpit will be hard to beat

my 2 cents worth

Randy

[Scoggs]

Personally I think it would enhance the experience.

 

So imagine. You build a 1:1 cockpits with switches that work but no displays. Then add Kinect and occulus rift. You use the rift to simulate the world and then Kinect will track you body movement and put it into game as your avatar. So not only get the amazing feeling of the sim-pit but you get the immersiveness of the occulus too.

 

Just a thought.

[Mike Powell]

Personally I think it would enhance the experience.

 

So imagine. You build a 1:1 cockpits with switches that work but no displays. Then add Kinect and occulus rift. You use the rift to simulate the world and then Kinect will track you body movement and put it into game as your avatar. So not only get the amazing feeling of the sim-pit but you get the immersiveness of the occulus too.

 

Just a thought.

 

 

There are some military trainers that work in a similar fashion. I no longer have the link, unfortunately.

 

The units were trailer mounted and had several stations, allowing multiple simulated A/C (helicopters, IIRC) to participate in mixed training sessions.

[cichlidfan]

... I think it is going to slow down your responses to things as specially when in combat situation where you have many buttons to press all over the place at the same time as being shoot at.

 

 

Using the A-10C as an example...

 

If you are at the point where you are engaging the enemy then you should not have to touch a single switch that is not on your HOTAS. If you need anything else, your butt is already toast! :P

[zaelu]

Oculus Rift will require less cleaning... my pit needs dusting quite often. I should put some anti-dust protection system like the Ka and Mil have. :)

[blksolo]

Guys get rid of your 8 track tapes and cassettes,the rift or something along those lines is coming soon whether you want it to or not. All things being equal 2 virtual pilots in a dogfight with equal skill,one with a rift and one with a 3 monitor setup. My money is on the rift pilot all day.

[scheffchen]

I have always had the idea of starting a cockpit build sometime...

 

Right now I am not really sure about that.

 

 

Let the future Rift+ (with upgraded resolution and DCSW support) cost 1000$, it will still be pretty cheap compared to cockpit build...

 

So what do you think?

 

I totally agree with you.

If i wanted to have a A10 home cockpit besides my 60h per week job, I´d have to buy everything for big $$$: 3-5 projectors and the cockpit hardware (switches, gauges etc.) which may cost about 10 to 15k Euro.

However this restricts me to that single cockpit. Now lets say 5 years in the future, I believe there might be a couple of other sims I´d play, say star citizen, eve vr, racing games etc. etc.

Although the beamer setup would be still useful, the expensive cockpit would not.

Furthermore think of the extensive CPU and GPU power you need to support multiple dislplays. Even with the bestest hardware available you might not have good frame rates on certain games if played at 5x 720p.

The downside of VR goggles are the limited amount of tactile control and seasickness, but probably things have to adapt to this.

 

I am really looking forwared to this, since high resultion / DPI displays are common nowadays. If it´s not the rift, it may be from another company, I personally do not care. I´ll buy it anyway ;)

 

Greets

boris

[blksolo]

I think the mouse issue could be solved by someone developing gloves with reflective marks on them,like trackir.Your fore finger would act as a mouse cursor, and maybe a pinch motion to click mfd's etc. I bet you could modify trackir to do it.

[joey45]

You can't see out of the rift... So close your eyes and try using your keyboard....

 

The rift is great but only good for controller type games. And maybe racing games where you don't use a keyboard.

[KLR Rico]

Will people stop eating apples once oranges come out? :D

[Thick8]

The Rift will need to have a minimum screen resolution of 3840x1080 to equal that of a 1920x1080 monitor. I couldn't even imagine playing any of my game at less that 1080p. Hopefully that level of resolution and lag free headtracking will be in the offering some day. It's not on the immediate horizon so I think the cockpit owners are OK for a while.

John

[Picksplitter]

Using the A-10C as an example...

 

If you are at the point where you are engaging the enemy then you should not have to touch a single switch that is not on your HOTAS. If you need anything else, your butt is already toast!

.... too true, that one... long past the time to be gafingerpokin' :thumbup:

 

but for me, the joy is in the build. my pit is (comparatively) quite simple, but each time I use it, it is a joy... because I dreamt it up and built it. And yes, I'd much rather touch something than click it with a mouse... hooorah

[Succellus]

Solution like the rift are over hyped for more complex simulators like DCS offer.

Solution like the rift are in no way new and not much succefull.

 

1) Brain problem.

Many people get motion sickness up to vomit, bieng dizzy and desoriented, this is not vented of course.

But brain coordinate movement feedback + body position with our internal natural artificial horizon (AH) located in the ears.

 

When you get drunk and uncoordinated its because brain isn t capable to process what the AH tell it quick enought due to alcohol messed the stuff up.

 

So imagine cutting it totally, movement but no AH feedback at all, thats why people get sick. Some people get used to it others not at all, some are immune.

Good test:

backseat of a car, look up to the sky while car is speeding, is you get dizzy after some time, chences are you ll get sick.

 

2) Occulus rift doen t let you see external.

Unless you totally master your hotas in all situation you ll fumble and probably get in trouble, miss target etc...

If you need keyboard... forget it.

 

3)no Tactille feedback,

unless someone create a 3d space grid way better than kinect (apple did it 100 times better than blocky kinect, but its not enought) + IR or other solution glove.

You dont want to screw your flight by switching the wrong switch on the way to the other one or trigger someothing while adkusting body ache, pull the eject handle while your funbling for the beer can or trying to scratch your balls.

And anyway nothing more satisfyng than flipping a switch, a button on a cockpit self made, no matter how shitty it looks.

 

How interesting such device would be for the market ? not soon i can teel you.

 

4) Resolution still need a way, but that will probably be fixed first. You don t want to fly with ingame googles on most of the time.

 

Occulus rift is good for races, hawks, racing sims, ROF like, maybe Sturmovik because all command will be on the HOTAS, assuming you have a good one, some action games, some RPG...

 

 

Things have to work a way before it get good for us.

[TimeKilla]

Guys get rid of your 8 track tapes and cassettes,the rift or something along those lines is coming soon whether you want it to or not. All things being equal 2 virtual pilots in a dogfight with equal skill,one with a rift and one with a 3 monitor setup. My money is on the rift pilot all day.

 

Untested against tested and proven tech mm yeah ill take the TrackIR plus Simpit & HOTAs any day until we see the rift doing these great things people go on about in the sim world.

[MudRat02]

The rift will be awesome for some types of flying, a simpit better for others. Anything that you only need a stick and throttle for, I'd take the rift anyday (formation and dogfighting).

[BHawthorne]

Personally I think it would enhance the experience.

 

So imagine. You build a 1:1 cockpits with switches that work but no displays. Then add Kinect and occulus rift. You use the rift to simulate the world and then Kinect will track you body movement and put it into game as your avatar. So not only get the amazing feeling of the sim-pit but you get the immersiveness of the occulus too.

 

Just a thought.

 

Nice in theory, but a heck of a long way till that'll be implemented. Take it from someone developing for the Rift and for multi-projector both. Both have their place in flight sims. Situational awareness might be better in a Rift but interactivity is so much better in a projector simpit.

[Mr_Burns]

I need a hobby more than the flight sim, learning electronics, minor software programming and the satisfaction of building a working cockpit of some form means more than the game. I dont really play DCS at the mo, maybe a fast jet earth mover will change that but until then, its a hobby to build.

 

That said, moving house next month and the plan is to build a DiY CNC for the hobby side - why, Im bored and drink too much and need a hobby, maybe make my own RC aircraft and boats and yes, some panels for a new pit!

 

Perhaps then I will use occulus as an interface to my models....

[7rooper]

Sorry to reanimate this old thread but I would like to hear what hardcore flight simmers think about this topic now that the Oculus Rift release time is being announced for the next summer.

Personally, this VR will get better and end up killing cockpit building sooner or later