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carlito777

First impressions on Oculus + FlyInside

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So finally I had some time to try the Oculus with FlyInside. Here is a quick list of pros and cons from my first impressions:

Pros

  • The feeling of actually being in the cockpit is just amazing. You cannot compare that in any way to a 2D monitor. In VR you really have the feeling of sitting in a tight cockpit just like the real one (I did most of the testing in the PMDG NGX and 777). After that experience, the VC on a 2D monitors just looks completely wrong in terms of dimensions and "feel".
  • The fact that everything is in 3D is stunning to say the least. All switches, the entire panel, the outside world, everything looks so "lively". And when you look out of the window, you really have the feeling that you are high up in the sky. You see much more. It is so easy to take a close look at all corners of the VC. So much fun to just look around. Totally different to simming on a monitor.
  • One of the key advantages of the 3D environment is, that you actually have a feeling for where you are in a three-dimensional space. You now "feel" height and speed much much better. You can even "feel" vertical speed. This makes it much easier to hand-fly the planes. For example, in the flare, you have a much better feeling for how much backward pressure on the yoke is required to nicely settle the aircraft on the ground. Also landing on the centerline is much easier.
  • I had a lot of fear that the resolution is insufficient. But at least for me, this is absolutely not the case. At least not in the PMDG birds. I can easily read the PFD and ND without even zooming in. Since I have quite some experience in the PMDG planes, I know where all the switches are, so I don't need to read the labels. But even then, most of the labels are perfectly readable if you lean towards them. So this is actually much better than expected. For sure, future generations will give us higher resolutions and this is appreciated, but it is definitely sufficient right now.

Cons

  • One of my cons might sound rather surprising for some. The field of view is actually rather small. It feels as if you are flying a plane with a diving mask on your nose. As I'm a scuba diver in real life, I know how that limited lateral field of view feels like and it is almost identical to the Rift. Since I have been using a triple monitor setup for the last 2 years, which gives me a nice broad lateral field of view, this is a step down when using VR. The lateral field of view resembles more or less that of a single monitor. However, since you can easily look around, this is not as "limiting" as a 2D single monitor. Still, this is an area which needs improvement in the future.
  • Using the buttons and switches in the cockpit is a bit annoying since the mouse pointer is less precise than the one in the 2D VC. And when you hover over a switch, the mouse cursor often times disappears, making it even harder to control the switches. This is something you get used to, but this will hopefully be improved in future versions of FlyInside. One thing I use to get over those deficiencies, is my VRInsight MCP Combo. Sounds strange, but I can quite easily "touch" the right physical dials and switches as I have used it so often. This way, I can operate the knobs on the MCP better than clicking them in the VC.

So what is the summary of my first impressions? VR is really great and is without a doubt the future of simming. The feeling of being inside the plane and in the scenery as opposed to just looking at it on a 2D monitor is second to none. You get much more visual information which helps to properly fly the plane. Despite the shortcomings, I think I will spend most of my future simming time in VR. And I'm very much looking forward to the next generations of headsets. 4K resolution with a 210 degree field of view. Wow, what an imagination...

 

 


i7-10700K@5.0GHz ∣ Asus ROG Strix Gaming Z490-E Gaming ∣ 32Gb@3600MHz ∣ AMD Radeon 6900 XT

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Thanks for your detailed report, great to hear how your overall verdict seems to be you're happy with your new headset.

As for your first con I recently ordered a product from VR Cover that replaces the original face interface with one much more comfortable people say and which also will make your eyes come slightly closer to the lenses resulting in a little bit improved FOV.

If you search for VR Cover on YouTube you'll find lots of reviews and most of them very positive. Here's a link.

https://vrcover.com/product/oculus-rift-facial-interface-foam-replacement-standard-set/


Richard Åsberg

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On 28.2.2017 at 6:42 PM, carlito777 said:

 

  • I had a lot of fear that the resolution is insufficient. But at least for me, this is absolutely not the case. At least not in the PMDG birds. I can easily read the PFD and ND without even zooming in. Since I have quite some experience in the PMDG planes, I know where all the switches are, so I don't need to read the labels. But even then, most of the labels are perfectly readable if you lean towards them. So this is actually much better than expected. For sure, future generations will give us higher resolutions and this is appreciated, but it is definitely sufficient right now.

 

I must have gotten a DK1 or something like this :-) I have no chance to read the ND, speed, altitude etc.

Also when I move my head, the VC moves, not my head position. I have absolutely no chance to do a flight like this. I cannot bow down to the FMC and from the normal position I have absolutely no chance to read the FMC. But glad it works for you.

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One of the cons you list is what has always been my issue with any 3D system I've tried out, and that's been quite a few over the years, such as shutter glasses etc. Whilst it does undeniably look fab in comparison to a PC monitor, the disconnect with placing your hand on controls is always a problem. Until there is a usable VR 'glove' or some such which can give you back your hand/eye co-ordination, any purely visual 3D system will always be a bit problematic.


Alan Bradbury

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1 hour ago, Chock said:

One of the cons you list is what has always been my issue with any 3D system I've tried out, and that's been quite a few over the years, such as shutter glasses etc. Whilst it does undeniably look fab in comparison to a PC monitor, the disconnect with placing your hand on controls is always a problem. Until there is a usable VR 'glove' or some such which can give you back your hand/eye co-ordination, any purely visual 3D system will always be a bit problematic.

https://www.leapmotion.com/product/vr

 

*?* :-)

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2 hours ago, swiesma said:

I must have gotten a DK1 or something like this :-) I have no chance to read the ND, speed, altitude etc.

Also when I move my head, the VC moves, not my head position. I have absolutely no chance to do a flight like this. I cannot bow down to the FMC and from the normal position I have absolutely no chance to read the FMC. But glad it works for you.

Strange. Have you posted on the FlyInside forum? When I lean forward then I get closer to the instruments and the FMC. No idea why it doesn't work on your end.


i7-10700K@5.0GHz ∣ Asus ROG Strix Gaming Z490-E Gaming ∣ 32Gb@3600MHz ∣ AMD Radeon 6900 XT

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No I just tried it today in the morning. Maybe I have some setup issue or whatever.

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2 hours ago, Chock said:

One of the cons you list is what has always been my issue with any 3D system I've tried out, and that's been quite a few over the years, such as shutter glasses etc. Whilst it does undeniably look fab in comparison to a PC monitor, the disconnect with placing your hand on controls is always a problem. Until there is a usable VR 'glove' or some such which can give you back your hand/eye co-ordination, any purely visual 3D system will always be a bit problematic.

You are IMHO correct. A company in Portugal or Spain makes a glove you wear and shows a demo of a girl playing the piano, the girl says it feels just like playing a real piano. Another clip shows a the girl holding her hand with rain drops falling on the glove, she can feel the rain. This feedback is an order higher than for example MS Force Feedback joy stick of yester year. Leap Motion is a step in the right direction but lacks feedback, your hands fall thru objects, it's like trying to put your glasses or any object on the co-pilot seat, nobody home! With these particular gloves the sensors are imbedded within the gloves themselves and look like clove rather than handcuffs.

If I can find the site again I will post it.

Best

BaldyB  

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Edited to add after reading some of the comments it doesn't look too promising for this product unfortunately. Too bad because it sure looked interesting!

Here it is and looks very cool and promising for virtual flying and being able to not only use your hands to flip switches etc but also to actually feel them.

Let's hope we'll see support for these gloves in FlyInside further down the road! 

 

Edited by WebMaximus
Added some important info

Richard Åsberg

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One of the things that's been happening is the implementation of VoiceAttack in Aerofly FS2 to handle pseudo-ATC and aircraft controls. I posted the video over at The Aerofly site and things took off like a rocket from there, with numerous revisions and additions in just the last few days. This might be one possibility for easy instrument control in VR, though that remains to be seen.

http://www.ipacs.de/forum/showthread.php/7934-Aerofly-FS2-VoiceAttack-Awesome!

http://www.ipacs.de/forum/showthread.php/7936-Voice-Attack-based-ATC-Any-interest

 


We are all connected..... To each other, biologically...... To the Earth, chemically...... To the rest of the Universe atomically.
 
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On 28.2.2017 at 8:07 PM, WebMaximus said:

Thanks for your detailed report, great to hear how your overall verdict seems to be you're happy with your new headset.

As for your first con I recently ordered a product from VR Cover that replaces the original face interface with one much more comfortable people say and which also will make your eyes come slightly closer to the lenses resulting in a little bit improved FOV.

If you search for VR Cover on YouTube you'll find lots of reviews and most of them very positive. Here's a link.

https://vrcover.com/product/oculus-rift-facial-interface-foam-replacement-standard-set/

Richard, have you already received your VR Cover? Is it worth it? I would highly appreciate a short feedback. Thanks in advance!


i7-10700K@5.0GHz ∣ Asus ROG Strix Gaming Z490-E Gaming ∣ 32Gb@3600MHz ∣ AMD Radeon 6900 XT

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On ‎3‎-‎3‎-‎2017 at 0:06 PM, swiesma said:

No I just tried it today in the morning. Maybe I have some setup issue or whatever.

You get that effect when you use FlyInside together with Ezca. It disappears when you close Ezca. Of course your problem might have a different cause.

Paul

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4 hours ago, carlito777 said:

Richard, have you already received your VR Cover? Is it worth it? I would highly appreciate a short feedback. Thanks in advance!

Yep, received it a couple of days ago and like it a lot so no regrets.

Just like others said I too find it more comfortable compared to the original.


Richard Åsberg

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You've got me considering an Oculus... 

Quick question....  I was price-shopping the Amazon.com site for it.  The site states that a Windows PC (figured that one) and 'internet connection' are required for use.  Is that telling me that I would need to be connected to the internet all the time I was using the Rift?

I do understand that there is other sim software that requires a full-time connection to run with the sim.  Live wx and traffic makes sense.  Wondering if this falls into that category, and if so, why?

Sorry about tne newbie question....thanks!

Jim

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No you don't have to be connected to the internet at all times, though yes, there are of course some multiplayer games out there that would require a connection.


We are all connected..... To each other, biologically...... To the Earth, chemically...... To the rest of the Universe atomically.
 
Devons rig
Intel Core i5 13600K @ 5.1GHz / G.SKILL Trident Z5 RGB Series Ram 32GB / GIGABYTE GeForce RTX 4070 Ti GAMING OC 12G Graphics Card / Sound Blaster Z / Meta Quest 2 VR Headset / Klipsch® Promedia 2.1 Computer Speakers / ASUS ROG SWIFT PG279Q ‑ 27" IPS LED Monitor ‑ QHD / 1x Samsung SSD 850 EVO 500GB / 2x Samsung SSD 860 EVO 1TB /  1x Samsung - 970 EVO Plus 2TB NVMe /  1x Samsung 980 NVMe 1TB / 2 other regular hd's with up to 10 terabyte capacity / Windows 11 Pro 64-bit / Gigabyte Z790 Aorus Elite AX Motherboard LGA 1700 DDR5

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