There's a plane that I found very awkward and didn't really appreciate until I got my G2.  Yes the flight model seems to still need work but the look of the aircraft is so spot on it's become a new favorite of mine.  In 2D based on your seat height you can't see from side to side unless you constantly play with your seat height as you taxi to the active or back to the ramp.  But in VR looking around and side to side is not an issue and the cockpit just feels like it should.  TrackIR makes things better depending on your settings but it's not like in VR.  I went to our local FBO to see this bird in real life.  A friend of mine has this aircraft sitting in one of the hangers.  I remember before I got my VR headset found that indeed the right perspective was being captured but because of the limitation of 2D you couldn't see out the sides like you would in the real bird.  The plane I'm talking about is the Carenado 182.  With VR you can move your head/body around in the cockpit and see what you need to just like the real bird.  You can raise up and see out the front, lean down a bit to see out the sides, it's not a problem.  It 2D this plane was a no go for me.  The Cessna 182 in this year has that unique cockpit perspective where you can't just sit in one space and fly it correctly.  You have to lean around to see out the sides.  Most aircraft sit a certain way on the ground where this is not needed to this degree.  It would be like with a tail dragger where you have to lean out the sides to somewhat see in front of you.  There's differences here as well as with the P51 no amount of leaning is going to give you the view you need.  You have to zig zag taxi where as with the Corsair not as much because leaning out the side gives you a somewhat better view out front.  This can all be disputed somewhat but that being said you have to lean around the cockpit in the Cessna 182 circa 2007 and not sit in one position and look around.

I found a similar issue in the AH P51.  The Gun Sight and Bow (the 'No Hand Hold' contraption sitting right in front of your face) just sticks out in front of you in 2D where as in VR it not such a distraction in the cockpit.  It's a different beast in VR in the way it looks.

The same can be said about the Longitude, B747, and B777 to name a few.  But the the Carenado 182 was the biggest stark difference for me as I would flat out not use that aircraft in 2D but in VR feels like a well made and thought out variant of the 182.  Just thought I'd share this.

Edited February 4, 20224 yr by Dillon

Some aircraft like the Lockheed Electra, where in 2D it feels like a cardboard cutout in front of you, come alive so much in VR, it's almost scary.

I only use 2D for screenshots and detail checking now, all flying is in VR, there's just no going back.

What are you guys using for flipping switches in the cockpit? Is Leapmotion still the preferred solution?

 

 

 

7 minutes ago, eslader said:

What are you guys using for flipping switches in the cockpit? Is Leapmotion still the preferred solution?

If I'm understanding you correctly I use the mouse pointer in the sim via my desktop mouse.

TrackIR gives you the same ability of course.

How is the resolution on modern VR? 
 

Can you easily read PFF and NDs?

 

Ive always wanted to try VR but everyone use to say the resolution is bad. 

3 minutes ago, fakeflyer737 said:

How is the resolution on modern VR? 
 

Can you easily read PFF and NDs?

 

Ive always wanted to try VR but everyone use to say the resolution is bad. 

I'm also wondering.

17 minutes ago, fakeflyer737 said:

How is the resolution on modern VR? 
 

Can you easily read PFF and NDs?

 

Ive always wanted to try VR but everyone use to say the resolution is bad. 

Its not bad now with the reverb g2, but when you see outstside the cockpit its not all there yet, but its getting much better than we had with 1st gen headsets. Actually many details you can see better in vr because things are bigger...

Im not going back to 2d, but each to hes own:)

I think it depends on which headset, and what videocard / resolution you can achieve.  I still think the G2 was my best bet and have never had a complaint on the resolution side.  Now with the NIS Scaler for open XR, and the forthcoming DLSS, even 2XXX series cards are going to have a shot at decent resolution / performance.   I will add myself the tally of folks that will never race another car, or fly another plane in 2D.   As for cockpit selection, I use the mouse to click on the switch or turn the knob.  I have a number of buttons preprogrammed on my flight yoke as well, which you easily memorize by feel.  I have some great utilities for bringing PDFs, littlenavmap, VFR maps etc. into the cockpit so I never leave the VR experience during the flights.  I can make out baro adjustment on the altimeter in most the GA aircraft without leaning in, so all other gauges are not an issue.

2 hours ago, Glenn Fitzpatrick said:

TrackIR gives you the same ability of course.

Not even close.  The depth perception goes along way in giving you what you see out the cockpit of a real aircraft.  Don't get me wrong TrackIR was great, but we've entered into the next level.  The only drawback for me is when you're in VR you're expecting to feel the turns on your body as you maneuver the aircraft and when that's not there it's weird, but I don't think we'll ever get to that point outside of putting on a G suite when you sim (don't think I'll ever do that). 

Edited February 4, 20224 yr by Dillon

1 hour ago, fakeflyer737 said:

How is the resolution on modern VR? 
 

Can you easily read PFF and NDs?

 

Ive always wanted to try VR but everyone use to say the resolution is bad. 

You really need to try VR (in a modern headset like Reverb G2) to appreciate it.  Nobody can describe it and it is nothing like using TrackIR.  To my eyes, detail and resolution "feels" like 80% of what I see looking at my 4K monitor, but honestly I don't think about that when I am in VR.  The cockpit and world come alive to the point where I feel like I am actually in a real cockpit and inside this virtual world.  That is a feeling I never get when looking at a 2D "pancake mode" screen.  While most cockpit dials/switches and game settings can be adjusted easily in VR using a mouse, I still feel a decent HOTAS type setup is very helpful when flying in VR to avoid having to fumble around blindly searching for keyboard keys.

1 hour ago, fakeflyer737 said:

How is the resolution on modern VR? 
 

Can you easily read PFF and NDs?

 

Ive always wanted to try VR but everyone use to say the resolution is bad. 

I have the G2 and I can read almost everything without having to lean forward. Actually, the only exception I can think of is the Metar print in the A320NX, which you probably couldn‘t read from that distance in real life either. The displays are super crisp. The scenery, on the other hand, is less sharp than in 2d, i.e. it gets blurry at a closer distance. I got used to it and for me the VR effect easily outweighs this.

One of the best benefits in VR is that you can rely on visual cues and sight pictures to fly the aircraft just like flying the real one. In this respect, VR is nearly 100% accurate to real flights and you can develop and use exact same practices as in real flight. This is absolutely amazing.

I had been using TrackIR for many years andn while it's a big step up for 2D, it's no comparison to VR at all. 

I have these same questions for a long time and I still don't think VR currently is ready for prime time.  To be clear, I have never tried it (simply because you must purchase it to do so) so this is based only only on what I have researched.

• the low resolution must be an issue?
• how does this work if you wear glasses?
• how do you easily manipulate real controls if you have to let go for a bit (stick/throttles) when you cant see them?
• conversely, how do you manipulate the VR knobs with added functionality (push/pull/rotate) without multiple mouse buttons available or having to wear hand items (controllers)?
• how do you work with third party apps like ATC, flightplanners, moving maps, ect that often appear in separate windows or even another monitor.?

Don't get me wrong, this is the way of the future and I cant wait, but I cant help but think we are not there quite yet.

1 hour ago, fakeflyer737 said:

How is the resolution on modern VR? 
 

Can you easily read PFF and NDs?

 

Ive always wanted to try VR but everyone use to say the resolution is bad. 

Everything, including EFIS,  is perfectly readable with Oculus Quest 2 since the sharpening feature was implemented. Ironically, now I find VR to be more comfortable than 2D in this regard while before I was able to fly only steam gauges aircrafts in VR. Also cockpit details and cockpit textures resolution look perfect in VR. But scenery looks much more better in 2D, in particular level of detail, colors, HDR, reflections, anti-aliasing, shadows (despite my VR settings are cranked to max, it is nowhere near the eye candy as in 2D).