Introduction When my editor, Robert Whitwell, asked if I would like to review the TrackIR4 Pro from NaturalPoint, I gave him the only possible answer I could… of course I would! I have been eyeing their ads for years and downloaded probably all their demos but up till now never really bit the bullet. Oh, I did download a similar program that used your webcam to give 2 degrees of motion tracking and for the most part wasn’t too impressed. The motion from the similar program wasn’t all that smooth, the room lighting had to be just right, and I mean JUST right for it to work and you had to be constantly resetting it, which involved nodding your head up and down quickly. My neck soon got sore and after the initial novelty wore off, I realized that it just wasn’t a keeper. The phrase “you get what you pay for” is certainly a true one in this case. The Naturalpoint company actually has its roots in developing mouse alternatives for handicapped individuals that aren’t capable of using a mouse or are suffering from such painful conditions as carpal tunnel syndrome and prolonged mouse use is not really possible for them. One of their developers was seriously into gaming and hooked it up to one of his games and the rest is history. The infrared movement detection technology they are using is also being used by companies contracted to the military for developing 21st century flight simulators for helicopters and fighters. Installation and Setup I received a box in the mail a few days later with an official white TrackIR hat and a clear, reusable, plastic display type package with the TrackIR4 Pro head unit proudly displayed on top. Inside I found a spring steel clip with a reflector attachment to place on any hat with a brim, a CD with the installation program and printed installation instructions. I inserted the CD, and the program autoinstalled. I plugged the Infrared receiver unit into the USB port and mounted the unit to the top of my monitor. Windows XP did its normal job of identifying a new toy and setting the device controllers up automatically and within a couple of minutes from starting I was ready to try this new puppy out. Upon the first run of the TrackIR program, I had a window popup with TrackIR’s latest news including the release of a newer software version that would run smoother. I downloaded the software update and installed it. Nice and trouble free, I don’t think it could be any simpler and I appreciate the program notifying me of the software update without me having to read about it a couple of weeks later on a forum somewhere else. How Do They Do That? The original TrackIR, their subsequent versions prior to having “Vector Expansion”, as well as the aforementioned webcam head movement tracking program, all use a single point of reference. Usually a sticky reflector that you can place on a cap, glasses, your forehead, a boom mic for a headset, etc. This was wonderful for tracking 2 degrees of movement which could then be translated into head rotation and flexion/extension (looking up and down). Since Naturalpoint’s TrackIR system has always used infrared light, it has always had the edge in keeping track of that single point and not letting other light signals create tracking errors. The improvements through the years have involved increased resolution which, in this case, is how far you have to move so the unit reads the reflective dot’s position, and increased response time. Each new model has made a noticeable gain in smoothness of operation and resolution.
With the advance to “Vector Expansion”, Naturalpoint has increased the immersion factor so much it just leaves the older unit, and any competition (if there is any), in the dust. True, you no longer have the convenience of a single reflective dot which many users did like placing on their boom mic. The single reflective dot is replaced by three carefully positioned reflective rectangles, two side by side and one centrally located which is behind and above the other two. No longer do you get unintended rotation just because you moved to the side in your seat. Instead of just tracking the movement of the single dot, this unit compares positions of the three rectangles and their distance apart and computes it into six degrees of motion. This basically covers any movement you would make with your head within the confines of most aircraft cockpits. It also pretty much negates the need to re-center while using unless you really change your seating position. The enhancements of TrackIR4 over TrackIR3 with vector expansion include increased field of view (from 33 degress to 46 degrees) and a 25% reduction in response time. The LED/receiver which is mounted on your monitor was completely redesigned so it is now much smaller and can easily be mounted onto a flat monitor with it’s adjustable legs. The cable is even noticeably smaller so it is easier to route than before. What’s it Like Using 6DOF Head Movement Tracking? Reading through various flight simulation forums, I kept coming across enthusiastic TrackIR users that just went on and on about what a great thing the TrackIR was and how it would change the way I look at flight simulation forever. Let me tell you, they were right. This latest offering from NaturalPoint is a further enhancement on the technology they have been the leader in and combines all their latest technology into one. A rather small and inconspicuous receiver you mount on top of your monitor and a rather silly looking spring steel contraption with three reflectors you mount on to the bill of a baseball cap, they can even provide the baseball cap. You are first struck with what a really neat little thing this is and you start going through every aircraft in your hanger exploring their virtual cockpits in a way never before possible. You look side to side and up and down… then you start noticing how easy it is to find those switches that were hidden under the yoke in some aircraft by just moving your head over to one side and looking around that yoke. Yeah, this is pretty cool… but wait. How about those gauges that were a little hard to read either because of their distance or small letters? Just move your head in a little closer and you can look right into it. How about all those overhead switches? Yes, with the POV on your joystick/yoke you could pan up and over to them but they were all tilted at a difficult to see angle. With 6DOF all you have to do is look up at them and tilt your head and you can straighten the image right out. This to me is revolutionary and converts the virtual cockpit from a novelty into a real learning tool as long as the aircraft developer has correctly duplicated the panel functions.
All I’ve talked about so far is just looking around the cockpit itself… how about using it when really flying? I mentioned that the VC had been more of a novelty to me and this is mostly because of constraints of your field of vision and how you would move around. To get a wide enough field of vision you would have to set the zoom far enough out on most aircraft that you would get this fisheye lens effect. Not only is this harder on your processor but it just doesn’t look right to me. Panning around with the POV and even later with the third button on the mouse (using F1 view or Active Camera) still required input and wasn’t always getting me to the view I wanted. It never worked well for a glance at the radios or out the window to line up with the runway when flying the pattern. In fact, flying the pattern was much better with the 2d views and POV on my yoke to take a glance. With the TrackIR4, you can leave the field of vision at a more realistic zoom level and use your head to look around. It’s kind of like you’ve got tunnel vision because you still don’t get that peripheral vision (unless you can afford a wrap around monitor system… hmmm) but I found I settled into it rather quickly because I was able to put my attention right where I wanted it to be.
Startup checklists are now a breeze cause you can move around and get to all the switches and see all the gauges (if they are included in the VC of course). Taxiing is really neat because you can rise up in your seat and move side to side to get a better feel for where you are (especially handy in taildraggers or aircraft with tall instrument panels). Your pre-takeoff in smaller aircraft is fun because you just turn your head to see the ailerons and if you can see them, the elevator and rudder are moving free and clear.
Taking off from the VC with the TrackIR4 gives a much better sense of speed and engine instrument scanning because of your head movement. I’ll admit I thought that RealAir’s RealView was some neat stuff for enhancing the sense of being in the cockpit by giving simulated head bobbing with aircraft movement. I thought it was so neat I bought Active Camera which I could use in all my aircraft that had VC’s.
One of the reasons I hadn’t looked more into getting TrackIR sooner, was some forum threads that had titles stating how TrackIR and Active Camera didn’t work together. That is not at all true, you do have to turn off the head latency effect in Active Camera (RealView if you are using that) for TrackIR to work correctly but all the other wonderful features of Active Camera work without a hitch and Active Camera’s ability to smoothly move from one position in the airplane to another gives a nice effect for moving about a larger cockpit. If you ever wondered why developers get ticked off at some people, just think about what you write in your title when you post… while I’m at it, also ask for help in the developers forum first before posting to a general forum and even still… ask before you just state that something doesn’t work or has a bug in it.
If you are into aerobatics you are just gonna love using the TrackIR4 to glance side to side and for visual orientation. Those metal orientation wires out on the left wing of the Citabria are gonna come in handy now. VFR flying is also much nicer because you can move about in your seat to get a better view out the window, this is especially useful when flying small twins so you can see between the engine and fuselage. Flying a normal VFR arrival has never been easier, now you just glance outside to get your position in relation to the end of the runway and if you have been a 2d panel stickler, you are going to discover that VC landings with the TrackIR are much more realistic in reproducing the visual cues you get in real life. Hey....it's not just for flight simulators One of the delights with the TrackIR4, is all of the other games which have been programmed with TrackIR support, either originally by the developer or later with add-on modules. If any of you are fans of Combat Flight Simulator, this is going to completely change how you play. No longer is it difficult to keep an eye on your enemy in a dogfight. If you’ve got CFS3 and Firepower you’re really gonna love looking around the cockpits of the B24 and B29. The Firepower add on is worth it just for these two bombers, let alone all the enhanced effects. IL-2 Sturmovik is also enhanced, as well as other combat flight simulators. If driving games are also on your computer, this brings a whole new level of excitement. It’s never been easier to get a bead on the right line and spot the apex point for the corners as well as keep an eye for your opponent. In my younger years I used to race and instruct for SCCA and various sports car club events. One of my better memories is racing the Nurburgring in Germany in 1990… took home a third place trophy which proudly sits in my living room. I’m always looking for a good simulation of this famous German track. I found one in what one would think is really an old game. Grand Prix Legends was a Windows98 release and in its original form, is certainly long in the tooth. I found that it has a very enthusiastic following and has been continually enhanced over the years.
This was a trend setting release when it was first brought out and set the stage for basically all the racing sims to follow. With the present upgrades available, the cars, tracks, sounds and effects are basically on par with many of the latest releases and better than quite a few. You can find and download the GPL 2004 demo which has one track, Watkins Glen. You can find literally hundreds of tracks available for download but if you want the original tracks included with the CD release, including the Nurburgring, you’ll have to buy the CD (which is still available from Sold Out software) and then you can download their updates. You’ll also have to download the module which gives TrackIR enhancement as well as the ability to use a hardware shifting unit (these racing sim guys are as nutz as us flight simming space cadets!). I’ve also got my eye on the upcoming GT Legends racing sim which has those wonderful racing machines from the 1960’s and 1970’s, the demo for this release is already TrackIR enhanced so it’s worth a look too. Summary If ever I got to review a five star product this one is it. I am putting this on my “must have” list for FS add-ons, it’s so portable I even took it on vacation over the holidays and used it on my laptop (that’s where I wrote most of this review!).
I used to have this idea of building a home simulator with either LCD screens for the panel or even custom gauges and a realistic radio stack. My thoughts on that have changed thanks to this little electronic wonder. The home simulator would take up a lot of space, render the computer completely useless for anything other than flight simulation and also limit the simulation to whichever aircraft I modeled the panel after. With this little marvel and a good virtual cockpit there are no limits to what I can simulate. I’m now going to probably look into a three monitor panoramic setup though so I can get a better wrap around view and stimulate some of that peripheral vision. I had the unexpected privilege of testing this unit out on three different computers and found it worked very well on all three of them. My old computer, which now resides at my office without any flight simulator installed, handled my simming needs very well for a few years. Those of you that have followed my earlier reviews or know me on the forums (zfehr) know I am a big fan of VoxATC. The addition of TrackIR4 to my old computer and all my add-on enhancements… and all my complex aircraft… and weather (ala ASv6) would still work well but if I tried to also run VoxATC with the TrackIR4 running it would really bog down. It was an either/or solution, the CPU could either handle adding VoxATC, or adding TrackIR4. This is certainly understandable… you can only ask so much of your processor. My new computer will hopefully last into FSX as it certainly is handling everything I have thrown at it, including running MyTraffic2006 at pretty high settings while still using TrackIR4 and VoxATC at the same time.
I have tried to explain in this review what my experience has been using this neat little tool. But even showing you the screenshots or watching the videos they use to demo the product can’t get across the feeling of immersion you get when using it. If you’ve already got a good yoke or joystick and rudder pedals, possibly even throttle quadrant, you’ve justified the expense for enhancing your simulation experience. This unit is going to be in the same price range as items you already have. If your purchase of TrackIR4 is made directly through NaturalPoint they do offer a 30 day money back guarantee like other quality add-on companies. By the way, my editor loves his Track IR4 Pro too. |
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