With the ultra-realistic virtual cockpits that are coming out for FS2004, the one thing this hobby really needs is a high quality VR headset. Could you imagine being able to look around the cockpit as if you were there?I'm not talking about technology like Track IR, but rather a complete headset with headtracking (ie you can look anywhere, including behind you).Does anyone know what the progress is on this type of technology? I would imagine the problem is getting the goggle's LCD screens cheap enough and at a high enough resolution (1024x768 min I'd say). AFAIK the head tracking technology is already available at consumer prices.TIA.

It reminds me the old good days of FU and the VF1 VR headset. It was probably 9 years ago now I've had the chance to try the headset (at this time it was 320x240 I think) with Flight Unlimited (which had support for it as a standard option!). It was simply amazing! being able to turn the head around while flying with a nice frame rate was very nice. On approach, being able to look down over the aircraft door to spot the height was nothing short of phenomenal! When preflight you can quickly look at your flight controls while moving the stick was great too. Just turn the head and look and you feel the immersion!This is the ultimate in gaming in my opinion, and not only for FS but for FPS too! too bad it is not consumer available enough yet...

I too wonder why nobody is doing these anymore. I invented an awesome way to make a very inexpensive one (it uses your monitor(s)) instead of having them included but have NO idea how to actually build one). If they used a trackIR type technology, I think they could be reasonably priced, but the current technology uses piezo gyros, which could be $50 each (3 needed). Still, if somebody came out with one that ran at 1024, with 3D stereo vision, I would pay $800. Maybe I'm an impulsive moron, but that would be too cool to pass up.

why dont they do this anymore?The medical impacts generated from the latency issues associated with this technology were phenominal. And as a result were quickly purged from the marketplace. Serious studies began in 1987 and concluded in Oct '89. As expected, insurance carriers failed to underwright the manufacturing base for this type of consumer product.It has been estimated that we will see a resurgence in about 5-7 years from now based on the current technology curve. Most of this info come from the professional periodical 'Phsycolgy Today' - in extreme cases, treatments lasted for 8 months.

I never thought about this, but you're right. Any perceivable delay between the head movement and what the eyes register could be a huge problem.But I could never imagine it being as bad as you say. Could you elaborate on the "phenominal" medical impacts, or the 8 month treatments? I'm off to Google a bit on this subject.

Yeah, that medical thing sounded interesting, what happened? I thought that the worst thing that could happen was that you became a bit nauseaus? (not sure about that spelling!) I remember myself trying it in the beginning of the nineties, walking around on some kind of checkered platform shooting polygons or something like that, kinda fun! I saw a computer gaming tv-show here in Sweden recently that showed american soldiers training with a kind of vr headset connected to the americas army game. That looked really cool!rgrds fredrik granfors

Strange, this topic didn't move up when I added my post ??? Well, well, bumpetibump, sure would be fun to know some more about this :-)