If you put some effort in there are ways to “interact” with the Virtual Cockpit.

Point-CTRL (a fair few DCS VR’ists use this)

There is a significant order delay as the person who puts this together is a “one man band”, and everyone wants one!

https://pointctrl.com/

Voice Activated Commands

You can set up any combination of keys/shortcuts/macros.

For example, to save fumbling for your keyboard, you could set up a small (or large) profile to do the following.

Set commands for “Go VR”, “Exit VR”, “Main Menu”, “Active Pause”, “Pause”, “Screenshot”. You can bring up all the Camera Views (internal & external).

Set commands for “I have control”, “You have control (your fictional Co-Pilot”, “Set Flaps ……#”, “Gear Down/Up” - The possibilities are endless.

If you keep an open Mic and don’t use a PTT. You could invest in a USB throat Mic that would stop VA picking up erroneous voice commands.

Haptic Glove(s)

Still in their infancy, and expensive! However, the Technology can only improve.

Here is just one company working on FFB. Gives one an idea on their future capabilities.

https://www.vrgluv.com/

To add to the VA bit. You can set VA up so that your Co-Pilot reply to your commands. You can set this up for replies. i.e. Set Flaps 10 or Flaps 10 or Flaps 10 set (you get the idea)!

as long as vr is not really plug and play and be good, it wont make much advances.

it needs a lot of improvements for me to be worth it.

That's right Dillon come to the darkside!

We'll trade you out for Ian!🤣

5 hours ago, VFXSimmer said:

but I've felt actual emotional moments in MSFS vr.. ESPECIALLY when visiting places that Ive been to and have meant something to me in the past.  The sense of presence ... that youre acually THERE .. and not looking at digital recreation can be awesome at times.

^ This. I like to compare VR vs 2D simming like the difference between "looking around at a place in Google Street View" vs "truly being there". Or "visiting a place" by looking at images in a travel brochure vs "truly being there".

My first VR flight in a C-152 I remember to this day as good as any of my real flights (as a pilot or passenger). Scenes got engraved into my memory that I will never forget.

Agreed also about the emotional part. Never before the output of a PC carried me away in aweness so much. And by a long shot. Fly a small plane from Sittersdorf to Wildberg via St Gallen on 19. December 2021 at 16:30 CET with 1/8 clouds and you know what I mean. Or over Victoria Bay in Hong Kong just after the sun went down. I can not imagine any, more breath taking experience triggered by a PC.

About controls: VR is the poor man's home cockpit. Sure, a little bit limited vs. real hardware but coming close and also having undeniable advantages: You get the home cockpit not just for one plane but for all 20 or 30 or how many you have.

 

 

 

 

 

Over the holidays, I figured I'd finally give VR a try (disclaimer: I was a skeptic). I did a quick search of what hardware could work with my computer without giving me 5 FPS; found a used Samsung Odyssey+ for $150; plugged it in; fired up MSFS; turned on the VR mode and... omg... ok yeah, this is another level!

The big moment for me was when flying through a valley in the Canadian Rockies and moving my head around to look beyond the cockpit ceiling to catch a glimpse of a summit. It was amazing. And that's coming from someone whose setup to start with is not too shabby from an immersion standpoint, as I'm sitting 2-3 feet from a 55" 4K TV.

It's just a very different experience. You just feel that you are there, in that cockpit. The sense of presence is mindblowing.

Now, it's not all roses, there are limitations and caveats : IQ is just not gonna be at all comparable to that of a 4K monitor and gauges can be hard to read (some of that can be improved with better hardware); interaction with keyboard can be tricky, though for me that's relatively minor as I have the Honeycomb quadrant;, etc.

But even with a 3-year old headset, the skeptic in me could plainly see that VR is the future of flightsimming.

1 hour ago, mrueedi said:

About controls: VR is the poor man's home cockpit. Sure, a little bit limited vs. real hardware but coming close and also having undeniable advantages: You get the home cockpit not just for one plane but for all 20 or 30 or how many you have.

 

 

 

 

 

Put the two together. I got so carried away by VR I started a home cockpit freeware project (AuthentiKit) primarily for VR i.e. only focus on the tactile stuff you want to grab hold of in VR and put it in the right place. Spitfire cockpit here - sets up in 5 mins and reverts to a desk even quicker. Quick release plates so I can swap from my Spitfire controls to my Bird Dog Cessna controls (latter are WIP). I'm even thinking of making overhead flight controls now as I'm rather tempted by that twin otter.

I considered VR not for MSFS but for Half Life Alyx, but after watching a million youtube videos and considering the cost, plus the fact that I suffer from severe motion sickness pretty much put an end to my exploration.

The biggest improvement to my enjoyment of games came from my purchase of an ultrawide screen 1080 p monitor.

VR is totally awesome but I am flying using a 2D monitor anyway. I even bought a brand new G-Sync 1400p monitor a few month ago so clearly for me VR isn't the future of FS. 😉 I can understand it is the future for others though! But let me share my thoughts on it and why I went back to 2D.

The first time I experienced VR (with the Oculus Rift in Aerofly FS 2) I was BLOWN AWAY!!! It was AWESOME! The best thing ever! And I immediately thought I would NEVER EVER go back to 2D again!!!

But...

1. The weight of the device became too much for me. I just couldn't stand that heavy thing on my head all the time. It hurt. (TrackIR weighs nothing. 😉 )

2. The quality of the visuals was really bad compared to what I saw on my screen. Low res, door effect, etc. and the fact that you have to turn down settings also didn't help. Of course I know that more recent devices have far better screens and a lot of these problems are in the past but certainly not all of them. But still, I am certain that at this moment I would have to lower settings in MSFS (and make things less real imho) in order to get a good enough performance.

3. On to the more personal experiences (which some may not experience at all unlike points 1 and 2): I simply didn't like the effect I was out of the real world and into a virtual one.
First of all I simply didn't like it that when for instance my wife came into my room and asked me something I sometimes didn't notice it at all. I didn't like the fact that I somehow lost connection with what was going on around me.
Secondly it was a lot harder to write something down (like I often do) or to drink coffee or do whatever I like to do during flying (like reading a book or whatever). I know there are solution for a lot of these things but to me they aren't good solutions.
But thirdly I noticed I somehow got detached of the real world in an odd way while playing in VR and this had an effect on me whenever I stopped playing. It's a bit hard to describe but whenever I stopped playing in VR it took time before I was back in the real world again. I simply didn't like that feeling at all. For instance, when I was driving my car in real life I sometimes felt I could do things I could easily do on my PC, like drive dangerously, but that I obviously shouldn't be doing in real life. As if my limits shifted. As I said, this is a more personal experience but I didn't like that feeling at all.

4. What made me stop using VR altogether was that I noticed it induced migraine, which obviously is even more personal and not something everyone will experience. Motion sickness never was a real problem for me (maybe at first but not later on) but migraine... no, thank you.

5. What also made me stop was the simple fact that you get used to 3D. It's awesome the first time but just like with 3D movies and, let's not forget real life 😉 , the 3D VR effect wears off after some time. It becomes 'just like real life' and nothing really special. I noticed that after I stopped using VR I sometimes went back to it, giving it another try, and that WOW-factor was there again immediately but only momentarily. To me, in the end, VR wasn't worth all the troubles I experienced with it.

TAKE NOTE: I used VR for more than 6 months and did so without gaming in 2D at all! So it's not that I should have given it more time! 😉

I am really curious to see how many people that are enthusiastic about it right now, saying 2D is dead, will still be playing VR in 6 months or so. Perhaps the majority (who give it a try) will keep on using it because as I said it absolutely is awesome but... I don't think it will be THE future for FS anytime soon (as in 'everyone will be flying in VR i a year or two').

Edited January 19, 20224 yr by tup61

@tup61 great post.

1 hour ago, tup61 said:

1. The weight of the device became too much for me. I just couldn't stand that heavy thing on my head all the time. It hurt. (TrackIR weighs nothing. 😉 )

I am only two (intense) days into my VR experience, but what I can say right now is: I don't get motion sickness, even after hours of wearing the Q2. With TrackIR, on the other hand, I got motion sickness after 15-20 minutes into a flight. I guess the "wrong" speed of head movements with TrackIR  makes the difference.

Peter

Wow, this thread grew faster than a major MSFS update 👍

13 minutes ago, qqwertzde said:

With TrackIR, on the other hand, I got motion sickness after 15-20 minutes into a flight.

Which comes to show it's different for everyone! 😉 I am a vivid TrackIR user, one of those who says 'I won't fly without it' and I loved it from the first seconds I used it, never had to get used to it, but I know there are people who can't get used to it at all or simply don't like it. That's life! I sincerely hope your enthusiasm for VR will never fade away and you will experience numerous more intense days! 😉

p.s   Welcome to those just discovering VR!!

.... and welcome to the new reality of "your PC isn't as powerful as you thought it was"

 

but it's worth it 😀

 

16 hours ago, Dillon said:

Just thought I'd post this here to say first it was FS2020 that revolutionized simming but after have a VR headset 2D just look like what I thought FSX, P3D, and XPlane look like now.  Not trying to put any other sim down but let's face it we'll dealing with cartoon simulators versus something so much more stunning. 

 

But it can also screw up your eyesight long term if overused, is expensive for a good uint, and requires a strong graphics card that are 2x the price right now.

Edited January 19, 20224 yr by MSFLYER5856