Can't imagine flying without it. It makes flying VFR and doing pattern work extremely easy compared to cycling view buttons and panning.

 

I'm expecting to get a combat flight simulator for Christmas, probably DCS A-10. It'll be the first time I'll use a combat sim with TrackIR. I can't imagine how much easier it'll make padlocking and looking for threats compared to the old days.

Fly without TIR?.....Is that even possible? :blink:

 

Famous Track IR quotes....."Is that engine on fire?!"......"Don't know, I'm not using Track IR".. :unsure:

I have TIR5 and once you spend a few hours with it you won't be happy flying without it.

 

With: The whole world just opens up

 

Without: Like flying whilst looking through a letter box.

You know you've been using TIR maybe too much when in real life--for example, while driving--you turn your head a small amount to the left or right and immediately wonder why your view hasn't changed as much as it usually does when you're flight simming.

I have had TrackIR for something like 6 or 7 years but never use it these days, gives me eyestrain plus lots of hassles with background lighting. I much prefer EZCA with standard points of view linked to buttons on my joystick gives most of what TrackIR offered but without the annoyances. Pity because TrackIR is the most expensive addon I have ever bought for FS.

 

Bruceb

I have TIR5 and once you spend a few hours with it you won't be happy flying without it.

 

With: The whole world just opens up

 

Without: Like flying whilst looking through a letter box.

I have TIR5 and once you spend I spent a few hours with it you won't I wouldn't be happy flying without it.

 

Fixed it for ya so you weren't speaking for everyone

I have TIR5 and once you spend I spent a few hours with it you won't I wouldn't be happy flying without it.

 

Fixed it for ya so you weren't speaking for everyone

 

Bloody hell, the grammar police. And you got it wrong.

Leave my posts alone.

Bloody hell, the grammar police. And you got it wrong.

Leave my posts alone.

I was kidding hence the jeez

OK, wrong end of stick...

I have TIR5 and once you spend I spent a few hours with it you won't I wouldn't be happy flying without it.

 

Fixed it for ya so you weren't speaking for everyone

 

You're right. I think it took me all of 30 minutes to get to that point.

 

Hook

And for those who have some motion sickness, I was once accused of "extreme scaremongering" for suggesting that some people might have that problem. I had a mild case for a short time the first time I used TrackIR, and never again.

 

 

I was one of those. It wasn't just the motion sickness (which was mild)...it was the simultaneous struggling to keep it oriented correctly. I've heard that TrackIR 4 (non-Pro) would have caused that. I'm just not willing to put any more $ into it.

 

Gregg

Okay as the only person ever to have secured a freebie from Natural Point (A TrackIR 4) for reviewing and demonstrating at the flight sim group I attend regulary, I have used if for years!

 

Last year the unit broke following a fall to the floor so I promptly bought another.

 

It is literally the best piece of hardware ever designed for flightsim. Then I discovered EZCA and as I fly the heavies I am now finding I'm using my TIR much less than I used to. EZCA now fulfills all my requirements as you can move instantly from one view to another, all preset and logged with numbered assignments.

 

Before I close my comment, a few tips for those who use it all the time;

 

1. Buy yourselves a Golfers peak, much better than wearing a cap indoors. Clip the vector clip to it and get your missus/girlfreind to put a stitch on the centre of the clip so to prevent it slipping off.

 

2. Assign the 'pause' button to 'Mouse 3' (Pressing down on the mouse wheel). You use the mouse to change settings on the MCP so it makes sense to assign the wheel press for this.

 

3. Best profile is 'Optimized Flight' available from the Natural Point website under the name, 'Profiles'.

 

I hope and wish for you all three greens and soft landings? Byeee

.it was the simultaneous struggling to keep it oriented correctly

 

I've found that assigning the TrackIR Pause function to a joystick button helps a lot when trying to flip switches in a virtual cockpit. Another joystick button is assgined to the Center function for those times when the center gets messed up (very uncommon in TrackIR5 as it recenters when your head is in the original centering position), or if I want to move my viewpoint up for landing... scoot down in the chair, recenter, scoot back up.

 

There's a Precision mode that is apparently used for switch flipping, but I don't find it very useful.

 

While it's not difficult to center the view as if you weren't using TrackIR, in reality there is no absolute center view. This may be a hard concept to get used to, but think about landing in a crosswind. The "center" is the direction your plane is moving, not the view directly out the front. This is a major difference between a flight simulator and a real plane.

 

Hook

I've found that assigning the TrackIR Pause function to a joystick button helps a lot when trying to flip switches in a virtual cockpit. Another joystick button is assgined to the Center function for those times when the center gets messed up (very uncommon in TrackIR5 as it recenters when your head is in the original centering position), or if I want to move my viewpoint up for landing... scoot down in the chair, recenter, scoot back up.

 

There's a Precision mode that is apparently used for switch flipping, but I don't find it very useful.

 

While it's not difficult to center the view as if you weren't using TrackIR, in reality there is no absolute center view. This may be a hard concept to get used to, but think about landing in a crosswind. The "center" is the direction your plane is moving, not the view directly out the front. This is a major difference between a flight simulator and a real plane.

 

Hook

 

Yeah, I've tried all that. Sometimes I wonder if it's a brain thing. I know that there are a good number of folks that use it and enjoy it and I'm really glad it makes FSX a better product. For me, right now, I think I'm happy with what I have.

It's a bit ridiculous to call the TrackIR experience "disgusting" though.... :lol:

 

You are right that keeping your eyeline straight ahead is not realistic when turning your head to look around in the real world. But as has been said, it is certainly closer to realism than using a little hat switch button to look around, and keeping your head completely still! ....... and again a lot more realistic than just pressing a button to access a preset view.

 

But it clearly is not for everyone,

 

It is funny that some people complain that TrackIR makes them feel sick ........ perhaps this is just virtual air sickness and quite realistic! :lol:

 

I found this was a matter of time. The reduced head movement became for me very natural after a few hours, I no longer experience feelings of sickness with Track IR. It took me a good deal of time not to experience the same when actually flying too, I still get a bit uncomfortable as a passenger in a light plane to this day.

 

The brain adapts though, as with real flying, Track IR is bombarding the eyes with conflicting information to the balance sense organs of the ear, which is attempting to tell your brain what your head is doing - some people are more sensitive to this than others but all our brains learn better how to adapt to being fed conflicting information over time. Anyone who's ever flown on instruments in the real world will know all too well the strange sensation of fighting instinct and following only the information given by the eyes. So I would agree, virtual airsickness in many ways quite realistic!

 

At the end of the day one can get use to it over time. Short sessions and stop before getting serious migraines! I know several aerobatics pilots who have told me at the start of a new season it takes time to get back in the groove and stop experiencing nausea caused by these effects each year.

 

 

Just as a last note, I would say the usefulness of Track IR depends on how you are flying too, the experience of flying a light plane or fighter in the sim with outside visual reference for me requires Track IR.

 

I need to be able to look around to see where a runway is, or figure out a navigation feature and then quickly come back to the flight instruments or check visually the aircraft's flight attitude compared to the horizon. A very different experience to being in a large airliner where perhaps switching quickly to a panel view is far more important than being able to pan round the virtual cockpit and look out of windows.