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Virtual Reality is amazing technology that creates realism you just can’t find anywhere else. With new technology, comes new opportunity for people like me. We can use the VR headset to create an amazing experience with a flight simulator.
I currently use the Oculus Rift and fly with X-Plane 11 and Aerofly FS 2. Both are great sims that have there own pros and cons. I have a write up about this if you are interested. X-Plane Vs Aerofly FS 2.
I wanted to go over a few of the problems that I see with VR Flight and some of the benefits so I create a post on 7 important things you should know before flying in VR.
In this post I will cover 3 Pros for VR flight and 4 Cons. I wanted to cover both to give you unbiased information…. even though I do have a bias, because I love VR flight… Just being honest.
So let’s get started with the good stuff.
1. Head Movement – Your Ability to Look Around and to Move Naturally
The ability to move around naturally is one of the biggest benefits to VR in flight simulation. This allows you to spin your head around to see behind you. You can lean to the side to see around your plane, to reduce blind spots and to see that plane flying towards you. Fighter pilots can easily track there enemy and helicopter pilots can spot landings with ease. You can stretch up, slouch or even angle your head to see so many different perspectives.
This gives you the ability to spot your landing. Maybe the next time you fly over that secluded runway, you can do a proper check for animals or debris, rather then saying “Well… I would do it that way in real life.” If you train for something, you will probably go back to the way you have been doing it in your sim. Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to practice the way you fly.
Here is another scenario. Maybe you are flying a helicopter and trying to land on a helipad or building. Do you really want to be flipping your hat switch back and forth as you try to line up on the helipad. Without having a third hand, this is not an easy task. Now try using the Oculus Rift VR headset and you will see how much easier it is.
2. Depth Perception – It is Hard to Imagine Flying or Driving Without it
Depth Perception is great to have for a plane, however I really think it shines when flying a helicopter. Have you tried to land a helicopter, and had a hard time judging your distance to the ground. It’s because you are lacking depth perception. With VR, you are able to judge the distance in the same way you can judge distance in real life. Try closing one eye and walk around your house… not near any stairs. Now walk up to something and try to touch something. When I tried this I was inconsistent with my accuracy. With both eyes open, I would have never missed the item I was reaching for. With VR, it has the same effect. You can now reach out and touch things (except they won’t actually be there).
Here is a good story to emphasize how realistic your depth perception is with the VR headset. I had just bought the Oculus Rift and was trying it out with some of the games that come with the Oculus Rift when you buy it. The one game I received was Dead and Buried. This game is a first person shooter. I was amazed at how you could duck and hide from shots being fired at you. It was so impressive that I had to share the experience…
So, I had my wife put on the headset to show her what it was like. I got her setup on the Dead and Buried game. She was in a shootout and was taking rounds. In order to get low enough to avoid the gun fire she leaned forward and put her hand on a wooden block… The problem with this, is the wooden block was in her Oculus Rift. She leaned on the wooden block (that didn’t exist) and tumbled forward. She crashed into my PC, that was sitting off to her left. Luckily she didn’t get hurt and we both burst into hysterical laughter. It really showed how real the Oculus Rift can be. Her mind believed her eyes that said ” there is a box in front of you”. She was able to put her hand right on that box, however, of course it was only in her sight.
Luckily when you are flying, you don’t run the risk of falling into things, however if your eyes can trick your mind to believe a box is in front of you, then your eyes can trick your mind into believing you are actually flying. Without depth perception it would be like watching a monitor. I’ve never seen anyone reach into a monitor when playing a shooting game…
3. Feeling of Flight – The Sense of Movement
When you fly with a monitor on your computer, you really don’t get that sense of movement, however when you add an Oculus Rift headset, you end up feeling the flight. When you make a bank, you will feel like you are banking your plane. If you do a roll, you will really feel it. Obviously there is no G-force or actual movement, however it appears that your eyes really control that feeling of movement. This can also be a downside if you do it wrong and are susceptible to motion sickness, however it really makes you feel like you are in flight.
Now let’s get in to a few of the problems.
I think the benefits are very obvious and outweigh the problems, however the problems may not be as obvious to you. There are ways to fix some of these problems and some problems that will be fixed with improved technology.
4. I’m Blind – Oh Wait, I Just Can’t See the Controls
This is a big one. You can’t see your controls. Some of us have spent tons of money building these cockpits that have the buttons, yoke, and rudders to look like the real thing. When you strap on your VR headset, all of this disappears into a virtual world. You can no longer see all your physical controls.
There are some ways around this. For me, I have my yoke setup in the same location as it would be for my X-Plane Cessna 172. The yoke is not problem, as it is in front of you unless you are using a joystick. The problem for me, is trying to reach for my throttle or any buttons. I don’t have a large setup, however I do have the throttle and mixture controls. It’s like closing your eyes and trying to find something in the dark. Due to this, I ensure that my buttons and throttle is always placed in the same location.
The other way to solve this would be to use the virtual cockpit. You can you use your Oculus Rift Touch controllers to operate everything in your plane. It does work, however I find that it can be hard to use.
For me, I am hopeful that when X-Plane 11 comes out with Native VR support, that they have an amazing interactive virtual cockpit that will help solve this problem. I have heard that Native VR support may be coming early in 2018. Cross your fingers it does.
5. Graphics – Not Quiet as Crisp as a Good Monitor
Ok, so this one is two fold. The Oculus is amazing, however compared to a desktop monitor, you will notice that the image is not as clear.
There are two reasons for this. One is that you are putting your face only a few inches from the screen. To fix this, the developers have each of your eyes looking through a lens that allow you to be very close to the screen. In the developer kits, I have heard that being this close to the screen caused the “screen door” effect. Imagine staring through your screen door. You don’t really notice that the screen is there until you look for it. It’s similar in the rift.
In this area, they have obviously made big improvements for the commercially available Oculus Rift, as you really have to look for the screen door effect if you want to find it. It is still there, but to a very minor degree. The second reason that your view is not quite as crisp, is that you are running at 2160×1200 resolution. 1080 x 1200 pixels per eye. This is good resolution, as a 1080p monitor is putting out 1920 x 1080 pixels. Although the resolution is pretty good, you have to now consider that you are stretching those pixels across your entire field of view.
6 – More Power – Need a Strong Computer
If you refer to the above paragraph about the pixels, you will notice that technically the rift is putting out more pixels in total then 1080p. It is putting out less per eye, but more overall. This means that it is running more pixels, which will be harder on your graphics card.
The big reason, that it makes your computer work harder, is that the Oculus Rift is not only putting out a large image, it is putting out two images from two different angles. It is almost as if your computer has to run the game twice. Of course it is not as simple as that, however that is a good way to think of it. It’s like running two games vs one game on a large monitor.
7 – Motion Sickness – Keeping Those Cookies Down
The last problem that I have noticed goes along with my last point. This one has stopped many people from buying VR equipment. It is the dreaded Motion Sickness. One way to keep away motion sickness is by making the game run smooth and fast. Between 60 and 90 frames per second is a good target. 90 frames per second would be the goal, as the Oculus Rift has a 90 fps refresh rate. The faster the better. Second fix, could be to increase the resolution. You can do this in a way. At this time, the only way to increase resolution, would be to go into super sampling. This does not increase the resolution, however it does create a better image. Super sampling is when you take an over sized image and scale it back down to the screen size. It’s a balancing act. When you increase the resolution or super sample, it gives more work for you computer and you may end up slowing your computer down so it is not running at a high frame rate.
Conclusion
Well, there you have it. The good and the bad of VR Flight. Most of the bad items can be overcome by picking the right computer for the job. In my opinion, the good far outweighs the bad. If you are interested in VR Flight, I suggest you check out the Oculus Rift
Oculus Rift + Touch Virtual Reality System
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