Just curious, for those that fly in VR and fly airliners such as the FBW, CRJ, etc., how do you manage all of the things you need to do in the FMC, or any other things within the flight deck that you need to click with your mouse, keyboard, or any other switches?  To me it seems like VR would only be possible for flying planes that pretty much just require stick, rudder and throttle.  Thanks!

I use the mouse, just like in 2D. Works like a charm.

In a full VR implementation, you can also use your hand controllers to turn knobs and push buttons. That's preferable to a mouse IMO. If I want to enter a flightplan manually, I usually do it in 2D and activate VR afterwards.

I have flown the CRJ for a while in VR and had no big problems with it. When in VR I like to control everything (with the mouse) in the virtual cockpit, like its done in real life by hand. Of course I use hardware for yoke, rudder and throttles. The Reverb G2 has enough clarity to handle things like the EFB or MCDU from seated position, maybe bending over a little. If for some reason I can't see it well from pilot position (like fuel tanking in the CRJ) I program a custom camera (CTRL-ALT-Number key) and switch back and forth (in VR) between these by saying "Fuel panel" to the VoiceAttack app.

Currently I fly the Kodiak a lot and no problems there with the G1000 NXi either. No custom camera here.

The toolbar gives me everything else needed: Navigraph charts etc and Sky4Sim Pad for weather and airport info and thats all I need for VFR/IFR flight.

 

I am now happily awaiting a Bus or a Boeing to fly in VR.

Edited January 19, 20224 yr by Gerwil

24 minutes ago, rka said:

In a full VR implementation, you can also use your hand controllers to turn knobs and push buttons. That's preferable to a mouse IMO. If I want to enter a flightplan manually, I usually do it in 2D and activate VR afterwards.

That sounds messy as you would have to constantly swap between flight controls and vr hand controllers.

1 minute ago, MrBitstFlyer said:

That sounds messy as you would have to constantly swap between flight controls and vr hand controllers.

I like it. In XP, which fully supports controllers, I only use the right hand one and keep my left hand on the stick or yoke. When I'm done turning the knob, I put the controller away. Usually I keep it on my lap or next to the throttles.

1 hour ago, Shack95 said:

I use the mouse, just like in 2D. Works like a charm.

It works better than in 2D imho, because by leaning a bit over to the FMS or the autopilot you can focus on the controls very naturally. Very rarely I have to lean so strongly (say 40cm or so), to see something detail very clear and detailed. But what I want to say, is that I can fill my field of view entirely with the object I want to control. In 2D, the presentation usually tries to pack a wide field of view on the screen, so details are lost. In VR, focus is easily moved by turning the head. This allows to to position the eyepoint pretty close to the panel.

You can also place the mouse over a rotary knob, e.g. for the autopilot heading, start turning the mouse wheel and then already move the view away from the control while dialing in the new course. In 2D, by turning a rotary knob with the mouse wheel, I nearly always fall into the zoom mode when the mouse loses the focus.

1 hour ago, Zimmerbz said:

Just curious, for those that fly in VR and fly airliners such as the FBW, CRJ, etc., how do you manage all of the things you need to do in the FMC, or any other things within the flight deck that you need to click with your mouse, keyboard, or any other switches?  To me it seems like VR would only be possible for flying planes that pretty much just require stick, rudder and throttle.  Thanks!

I asked myself before getting into VR but then I was amazed how easy it was.

Basicaly you have a Stick, a throttle and your Mouse. You map KB commands to those like flaps, gear, and so on and you fly only with those 3 devices. It is like driving the car where you never look where the gear shifter is or your pedals....you just move your hands and find everything.

I also defined some views on my buttons to get closer to some of the buttons e.g. FMC and of corse I have another button taking me back to the defined standard view. From the standard view it is good enough to flip some switches on the OVHD or MCP but depending on your system, it is quite hard to see small symbols on the FMC so I go closer to it (or EFB another example).