P3D - Flyinside and motion sickness

[rcs 6]

These are my thoughts on VR and motion sickness. I have an Oculus Rift CV1, P3D ver 3.4 with Orbx scenery and Rob Young's Realair Lancair legacy 2. In all the time that I have used flight simulation, this is the closest that I have gotten to the real world experience of flying. I fly GA for real and the problem with VR is that I don't get the real motion cues and I do miss them. In the same way that as a student pilot, I suffered initially with motion sickness, I grew out of it and in 25 years+ of real flying I have never ever been ill when I have been in control( probably just as well!). With VR, you need to give yourself time to get used to the environment and if you feel nauseous, stop and do something else for a while or even until the next day. When you eventually feel well again, that is not to say that you won't ever feel ill in VR but the period of exposure should be longer. Eventually I expect VR to feel quite natural to me but it will take time but it is worth it, as the experience is incredible.

I any of you are attending the flight sim show at RAF Cosford, UK on th Saturday 8th of October, I will have my OC there on the RC Simulations stand.

[glider1 90]

Another important factor for motion sickness is stuttering in the sim.

 

Two issues, the goggle frame rate and the sim frame rate.

 

Lets say the googles are locked at 90fps because you have an SLI rig or a high end graphics card.....

 

....great but....

 

the sim *needs* to run smoothly as well especially when loading scenery in otherwise motion sickness will follow.

 

The sim frame rate is not really the issue....

 

rather it is the delivery of consistent non-stuttering frames.

 

I don't get motion sickness in VR but for an experiment, I down clocked my CPU from 4.5 to 3.5 and went for a fly.

 

The sim went well but occasionally would stutter.

 

The pause of 1/2 a second or so really knocks upsets the brain when it is expecting smoothness like it gets in reality.

 

If it is only one or two pauses it might be ok for some.......

 

but if the sim is randomly pausing even with a 90fps lock on the googles, motion sickness would probably follow for most.

 

The good news is that since VR is a HUGE game changer for flight simulation (including these first gen goggles when set up properly),

 

the simulation and scenery developers are going to have to be forced to comply with best practices in the design of super smooth simulators

 

because if not, they will be affecting peoples health in VR.

 

Gone will be the days when developers could get away with heavy eye candy to boost sales

 

and then lie to customers that the simulator will run smoothly.

 

In VR simulation smoothness is now a public health issue.

[spearmint_flyer 579]

My question is with these headsets. How big the resolution of the flight instruments. Will I be able to fly an ILS approach with them by reference to instruments only?

[kakusso 12]

My question is with these headsets. How big the resolution of the flight instruments. Will I be able to fly an ILS approach with them by reference to instruments only?

The gauges are not cristal clear you need some effort and in some cases some interpretation to read them.

[rcs 6]

I really don't have too much trouble reading the instruments but they could be better. They don't compare with their appearance on a monitor. If you are looking at a gps or glass cockpit display it is also difficult to read small numbers or text. The quality also varies between different aircraft as well. With an analogue instrument display as with the Lancair, I have no issues and can always lean towards the panel for better clarity. Even with these drawbacks, the experience of flying under instrument conditions is still far and away more realistic in VR than not.

[dmarques69 316]

Yesterday i played for some minutes one game that gives me light motion sickness (Onward a FPS), and i think my brain/eyes are starting to adapt, first time i play this one i was feeling dizziness almost in every movement, even being lighter than the one i feel in simulators like P3D, it was a constant feeling, yesterday i only felt in some movements, which is nice, i think im on the right track.

As for the guys that have doubts regarding if they are going to have MS with VR... i was almost certain that i was prone to motion sickness in VR, im those kind of persons that can't read a SMS in a moving car without being queasy... but im so glad that i bought the VIVE, forget the things you read, the videos on youtube, you have to try for yourself to feel the amazing experience that VR gives you...even for persons that don't like gaming, they are going to love, my wife for example is always asking me when can she play again, which is a pain lol, i have to give her at least 30 minutes every day to play with the VIVE... we can talk about the resolution, yes its not the best, not comparable to what you see in a monitor, but forget that, the level of immersion makes you forget that almost instantly.

Im going to be very sad if i can't pass this motion sickness thing completely to enjoy P3D for example, but even so, if you ask me if im going to regret for the 900€ that i spent, i would say NOT AT ALL. Stop reading, just buy it