Hello, Folks

The VR world has been always interesting to me. But at the moment I am still a 2D user though. Have been watching many vids on youtube regarding the VR sets and  I was attracted by Varjo Aero. But the thing cost too much.

Just recently Varjo announced the price drop for the product and I started thinking on getting the thing. But still in a bit of hesitation...

Could you tell me what the steps would be after I get the VR? Is the Open XR necessary for use or Varjo native software is enough?  

I heard that some new editions of VR should come up in the market. Should I wait for those or Varjo Aero is good enough to completeley enjoy it?

 

Thanks!

Edited September 25, 20232 yr by zorro747

I have no experience with the Varjo, but maybe this could be helpful...

 

Share my VR experience. I too reviewed many videos including the excellent one above, VR Flight Sim Guy (he has a lot of excellent information). One person, a real pilot, suggested to start with a less expensive unit to experience VR in MSFS which I did. Oculus unit Feb 2022 was first unit. Being an old Flt simmer, I was sold and did not look back. Two weeks later, return Oclus, switch to HPg2, well that didn't last long, went to Aero with one light house and built 4090 machine to drive Aero. The Aero Flt Sim computer is my main go to unit that i use for multiplayer group I fly with weekly. By way, most of folks in my group do not like VR, their systems are setup with three to four large monitors. I shall always use VR, no monitor flying for me. By the way, do have the Crystal but still tweaking it on the old 3080ti flt sim computer. The best thing I like about the Aero computer, it is what I call, "A kick tires & fly unit" no more spending hours tweaking after my initial setup. I'm still new to VR with only 144 MSFS flight hours so take this with a grain of salt. Good luck to you!!!!

My main advice would be to find a way to test a VR goggles yourselv, either lending from a relative (that's what I did) or perhaps from a shop, if possible. Just 10 min in a shop will not do.

I did the former and will not return to a 2D screen, but it's a personal thing and everyone's experience is different.

Kind regards, Michael

But people still fly in 2D, impressive, anyway that is totally respectable and personal decisions, like if people want to fly in 420p in an old Cathode ray Tube TV or green Monitor.

Ok, I am joking, there are many reasons, even psychological or/and physicals etc., and one very important too, yes, the excessively expensive that it is still, and without ones results, even with the best hardware, that are not the ideal or optime.

Edited September 25, 20232 yr by peloto

To practice your stick/rudder skills or just to enjoy sight seeing, VR is as close as possible to the real thing at the moment. 2D is absolutely no match. I'm a private pilot and speaking from my own experience.

But for instrument-heavy flying, VR is just not practical. I would switch to 2D too, or at least a hybrid, switching between VR and 2D whenever necessary. 

Been doing VR since 2015, I would NOT recommend a $1k+ HMD as one's first completely new to VR experience.

Let me ask you this...

What's more important to you, wired or wireless VR experiences? The wireless experience depends on other factors such as router latency and video compression compromises (Quest 2 or Pico4)

Everyone has different experiences with VR, when it comes to specific eye sight, facial/nose fitment/comfort, motion sickness etc etc.

Either go try a VR HMD demo (no idea where that can happen after Covid) first or start with something cheap (OG Vive, Rift S, older cheaper WMR HMD like O+) as an entry level YAY or NAY for VR.

Too many folks have been disappointed buying higher firepower G2 Reverb/Pimax/Varjo HMDs as initial VR experiences only to later find out VR just doesn't work for them physically nor system/hardware tweaking wise.

Be prepared to tweak and go through VR trials and tribulations like no other especially concerning PCVR, graphics tuning, and a ton of tether apps like OpenXR 🤣

Alot of us make it look like an easy to get into process because we are seasoned VR tuners/tweakers, don't think PCVR is just as simple as throwing on the HMD and hopping into total MSFS enjoyment.

Hope this helps!

 

Edited September 25, 20232 yr by blueshark747

I am a very happy Varjo Aero user, and only use VR. I cannot go back to a flat monitor for flying. From flying a small GA aircraft to large airliners, the feeling of sitting in the cockpit, looking around and everything looks to scale, is incredible. The sense of height is much greater, as depth perception is much greater in VR. Makes landing easier, at least it does for me.

 No monitor can give you that feeling. No youtube video can really show you what VR is like, because you are seeing it from a 2D perspective. 

Some advice that I posted in another thread a while back:

Motion sickness can be a real thing in VR. Your eyes tell you you are moving, but your body is not.  I suffered a little bit in the beginning, but now it does not bother me at all.  The thing is, you will likely feel some level of discomfort in the beginning.  The trick is to start off easy, and for short durations. Don't start off using roller coaster type VR sims or space type sims, where there is a lot of fast movements, and ups and downs. This may put you off VR for good.  Start off with something slow, like walking around for 10 min at a time. Then maybe a short slow level flight in a Cessna before graduating to a dog fight in a F/A-18 Hornet (DCS). Some people will get over the motion sickness quickly, like I did, others may take a bit longer, depending on how vulnerable you are to it. But in the end, its just a matter of taking it slow, and in short durations,  so your brain gets used to it. 

 

Edited September 26, 20232 yr by rickjake

10 hours ago, blueshark747 said:

Hope this helps!

I difinitely want to start VR. And amongst different VR sets I've chosen Varjo. Especially now it seems an affordable thing. My concern regarding the tweaking. What additional software should I use in order to have VR running smooth? OpenXR and native Varjo sofware? My comp should run VR pretty much ok, I think...

3 hours ago, rickjake said:

 

 

Thanks for sharing your experience! That makes me to come closer to the decision 🙂

5 hours ago, rickjake said:

The trick is to start off easy, and for short durations. Don't start off using roller coaster type VR sims or space type sims, where there is a lot of fast movements, and ups and downs.

This is very a good advice. When I got my first headset (an Acer one) lent from my son, he introduced me to a game with fast flying dragons to follow which he presented me proudly as a demo. I was motion-sick within a few minutes and never believed I would ever make friends with a headset in a flightsim.

Kind regards, Michael

1 hour ago, pmb said:

This is very a good advice. When I got my first headset (an Acer one) lent from my son, he introduced me to a game with fast flying dragons to follow which he presented me proudly as a demo. I was motion-sick within a few minutes and never believed I would ever make friends with a headset in a flightsim.

Kind regards, Michael

I've shown vr to many people over time, and it's always startling to me how quickly some of them got violently sick almost instantly....

I've actually tried to make myself sick from time to time, spinning, quick movements, the whole nine yards, and....... nothing.

I really wonder what makes the difference.

1 hour ago, HiFlyer said:

I've actually tried to make myself sick from time to time, spinning, quick movements, the whole nine yards, and....... nothing.

I really wonder what makes the difference.

I can get motion sick after long flights (which I rarely do, mostly it's 1-1,5 h maximum) with a lot of turns, ups/downs, and there may be some more factors involved which I simply don't know.

Low fps can lead to motion sickness, too, but at my present system I've locked fps to 30 using the OpenXR toolkit which it very rarely drops below. (We better don't start another discussion if 30 fps is "terribly jerky" here again.)

Kind regards, Michael

you shouldn't  really  get  sick  using  vr  in msfs,  different  kettle  of  fish  when using  it  in dcs  🙂

50 minutes ago, pete_auau said:

you shouldn't  really  get  sick  using  vr  in msfs,  different  kettle  of  fish  when using  it  in dcs  🙂

DCS?

If I wanted to test somebody's' VR flight-legs, (and was feeling a bit vicious) I would toss them into a dogfight in Star Wars Squadrons.....