I first tried VR using the Oculus Rift S in Xplane and  was totally amazed. Everything was more enclosed, confined and life size and you can move your head around freely which is a lot more natural than using the hat switch. Yes at first it does feel like your wearing a dive mask as the view is restricted but as other have mentioned once you get into the flying you kind of forget. 

After the flight you actually feel like you've been somewhere and is truly impressive.

I wouldn't recommed the Oculus Rift S  or any of the 2020 current Oculus  range at all though as the resolution is fairly low and can be quite frustrating when concentrating and trying to read the gauages, gps etc. even when you lean forward and look close.

For now, I have an old Track IR 4 that I dug out last week and found that to be very useful. To be honest I'd struggle to enjoy a flight withought it now as you also have 6dof although it is obviously limited to the monitor in front of you. There's no real confined  immersion that you get with the VR headset but it is realistic for looking around the cockpit.

Drawback is that the newer TrackIR 5 is disgustingly over priced for what it is.... seriously too expensive but if you can get a secondhand V4 it would be good and keep you going until higher res VR headsets hit the market. Lots of hopes on the Reverb G2 and may run smooth in Xplane with settings lowered. 

No idea about MSFS 2020 even if/when it does get VR as the frame rates will tank considerably. Have to love the new MSFS though with all it's great graphics. Loads of bugs but will hopefully catch up.

Hope that helps.

54 minutes ago, andrew222 said:

I wouldn't recommed the Oculus Rift S  or any of the 2020 current Oculus  range at all though as the resolution is fairly low and can be quite frustrating when concentrating and trying to read the gauages, gps etc. even when you lean forward and look close.

I am a very satisfied user of the Oculus Rift S. While running it with a supersampling rate of 1.5 to 1.6, it has acted as a game changer for my P3DV4 experience. Simulated flying is so much more realistic in VR that I didn‘t do a single flight on my monitor since getting the Rift S over ten months ago. The HP Reverb G2 might be a great upgrade once available.

Edited September 17, 20205 yr by Flyfox

On 8/12/2020 at 9:45 AM, jon b said:

 I think VR is the best thing to happen to flight simulators since the sublogic Scenery disks

I remember those...OMG Im old.

My brother gave me his Rift S, its awesome in DCS World with my Hornet.  Not so much in P3D as VR feels more like a hack.

Go for it, no turning back to flat worlds after.

Hey Flyfox. I had no idea about the supersampling and just used the Rift S as it was installed. At work now but just looked up the Oculus Debug Tool online and will give it a go tomorrow. The guy in the Youtube clip set it to 1.5 so will start with that. To be honest I was a little gutted when I gave up with the Rift as the flight experience makes the regular monitor version feel like playing an app on your phone. 

I just packed up the Rift and put it up for sale on Gumtree here in Australia.

Better unpack it again for a weekend of testing and will report back 😉

One thing I did read though this morning was that facebook are packing in the Rift S.

Cheers fron Downunder

9 hours ago, andrew222 said:

Hey Flyfox. I had no idea about the supersampling and just used the Rift S as it was installed. At work now but just looked up the Oculus Debug Tool online and will give it a go tomorrow. The guy in the Youtube clip set it to 1.5 so will start with that.

Hi Andrew

The best way to set the super sampling is via Oculus Tray Tool. Following the installation if this tool you can define a profile for each of your VR applications. If you use P3DV4, make sure to set ASW to OFF and the super sampling to any value between 1.1 and 2.0. My best setting is 1.6 based on my hardware (see below). It quite often happens (on my computer) that those profile settings are not recognized immediately. So, whenever I start P3D I shut it down again after a few seconds (from the task manager), restart the Oculus Tray Tool and P3D. If you have ticked the "Audio confirmation when the profile is applied" (at the bottom of the profile settings), you can hear whether to profile is taken into account.

The improvement provided by the super sampling is very significant, if you follow these instructions. VR flying has really become phenomenal and the Rift S is perfectly suitable for P3D.

Cheers from Spain.

 

Thanks again. I downloaded the Oculus tray tool and tried a few settings. Your right, 1.5 /1.6 does make quite a bit of difference over the default settings on the Rift S. The panel was a lot sharper and easier see.

I left my post up on Gumtree during that time and someone offered to  buy the headset so its off in the mail today. I'm not interested in the Quest or Facebook and looks like support for Rift S will go next year so will see what the Reverb G2 is like. 

Back to the original poster, try VR out with whatever headset you can get your hands on just to experience what the flying is like. Really good fun.

VR in P3D is quite hideous, saw it on my brothers rig, poor implementation, almost an after thought by LM.

11 hours ago, Boomer said:

VR in P3D is quite hideous, saw it on my brothers rig, poor implementation, almost an after thought by LM.

Agree, it leaves a lot to be desired, but still better than flying on a 2D screen

16 hours ago, Boomer said:

VR in P3D is quite hideous, saw it on my brothers rig, poor implementation, almost an after thought by LM.

I cannot agree with you. For me, P3D works perfectly well. I am using my hotas, pedals and a small gamepad, which I can all handle much easier physically than by using clunky VR hands in the cockpit.

I am mainly into GA flying and most of my airplanes are equipped with the GTN 650 or 750, so that I almost never need to remove the headset. I can do all essential activities in the VR cockpit. Many addon aircraft also provide checklist as pop-ups,. I adjusted all pop-up windows to appear in convenient and easy-to-read/operate locations within the VR cockpit.

On 8/12/2020 at 8:09 PM, javelina said:

I've been flying VR for 2.5 years now.  There's no way I could ever go back to pancake (2D) mode.  When I saw that FS2020 was going to support VR, I jumped all in....  For the near term, I'll fire up the TrackIR.  But that's been quite a while with using that...  🤪

Indeed, VR is so immersive.  You're in the cockpit as opposed to flying a screen. 

I also ordered the G2 (to replace my Rift S).

Since i first sat "INSIDE "  (VR) ...,   i spend around 3000h flying (ONLY flying) ... when i heard about MsFS 2020 implement VR  i just bought ,preordered "ALL" ... means G2 HP Headset (...i uses Rifts before) , RTX 3080(probably i go for 3090..) , 5ghz overclocked cpu   and just cant wait ...to "SIT INSIDE" again... !!!    all i am doing now with msfs 2020 in 2D Desktop mode is just like playing Nintendo Gameboy mario Card instead of sitting in a real Rollercoaster at a real funpark jelling out loud  😉 🙂 

actually i play "onair company" , i make a flight with msfs2020 and than back with X plane in VR with same plane...

cant wait to see the graphics in VR with msfs2020...

I'm an Airbus Captain and I had a passing interest in PC simulation since FS Labs A320 came out as it has helped me stay sharp professionally. However, after I setup a decent rig and saw DCS, I thought I would try the free sample. It was interesting enough but too clumsy on a flat screen monitor, then one of my first officers at my airline suggested I have another look through his Rift CV1. "You'll buy one within 24 hours" he said. I had a look and, what d'ya know, I now have a new hobby! It's VR or nothing as far as I am concerned, I could teach anyone to fly safely and effectively provided they have access to reasonable gear including a VR headset. 

I would go so far as to suggest that those that stick to a flat screen monitor should perhaps be called "flat-earthers" but I wouldn't want to be rude 😉

 

13 hours ago, aidanlegras said:

It's VR or nothing as far as I am concerned

 

I couldn‘t agree more! Once you have experienced the cockpit in VR, there is no way back!

I'm thinking of picking up the Valve Index for P3D and eventually MSFS when it fully supports VR. What are some thoughts on it compared to other VR headsets on the market? 

On 11/12/2020 at 11:05 PM, EdwardSm said:

I'm thinking of picking up the Valve Index for P3D and eventually MSFS when it fully supports VR. What are some thoughts on it compared to other VR headsets on the market? 

Index is still a top heavy weight along with Rift S, O+ and Reverbs.

If you are strictly simming and tracking isn't your main focus I feel a cheaper alternative Rift S, O+ or Reverb is all you need.

Pimax I would avoid or at least heavily research before pushing the buy button at this point.