Title says it. I am wondering how folks push buttons or turn knobs in the cockpit that are not bound to one of your physical controllers.

I own a Quest 3 and Honeycomb Alpha and Bravo.

Thanks.

Edited June 14, 2025Jun 14 by Rob G
More Info

i have a left/right mouse buttons and a mouse scroll wheel attached to the joystick grip which I operate with my middle and ring finger while holding the grip with thumb and forefinger. 

I use the quest 3 hand tracking with my left hand to do all the pointing at switches and dials

Edited June 14, 2025Jun 14 by dogmanbird

I've got a T.Flight Hotas with most buttons assigned to things like flaps, gear, elevator trim and autopilot master, but my mouse is always within reach. I don't need to look for it, my hand just knows where it is from muscle memory.

The mouse is pretty useful in VR. Fortunately it behaves predictably and the mouse wheel turns things like heading bug, radio frequencies and altitude. Just like 2D really.

I have the same set up as you, Rob. 
 

I only use the Alpha and Bravo for the primary control, including throttle, spoilers, flaps and undercarriage.  
 

For most other stuff I use the mouse, which generally works very well.  For airliners, though, I’ve recently invested in the wingflex fcu for the Airbus 320’s, as I found the ‘push pull’ of the fcu controls tricky on a mouse.  I then realized, with vectored ATC, how much easier that was with physical twist knobs.  Then, having tried to work out how to get that to work with other aircraft - and failed, I got the Stream Deck Plus…splendid!  Only use it for the 4 rotary knobs, but much easier in airliners than the mouse…

What we use is mixed VR where you cut out areas via a hand-held joystick to make the polygonal cutouts.  That way we can see the various hardware panels like the overhead, the console, etc.  I believe it depends on the VR you are using whether you have the capability to do this.  We use Varjo headsets,

7 hours ago, Clutch Cargo said:

What we use is mixed VR where you cut out areas via a hand-held joystick to make the polygonal cutouts.  That way we can see the various hardware panels like the overhead, the console, etc.  I believe it depends on the VR you are using whether you have the capability to do this.  We use Varjo headsets,

I have a Quest 3.

I use trackball mouse (Logitech ERGO M575) specifically for MSFS. It's much easier to stay still on a knob and turn it with trackball. And in general I feel trackball works better in cockpit than normal mouse. 

 

1 hour ago, FlyIce said:

I use trackball mouse (Logitech ERGO M575) specifically for MSFS. It's much easier to stay still on a knob and turn it with trackball. And in general I feel trackball works better in cockpit than normal mouse. 

 

Hmmm…that is an interesting thought…

Mouse on a pad connected to my rig, like using regular controllers and USB stuff it very quickly becomes second nature so I never "notice" it so to speak.

I did try controllers once with 2020 but it was more of a faff with Asobos dreadful implementation, I see they've added more options in the latest 2024 SU3 beta so it maybe better, but I'm happy with the mouse for now.

Left hand on yoke, w. buttons programmed to pitch trim, flaps, gear.  

Right hand - throttle, prop, mix, spoiler - depends on the plane.  Switch right hand to trackball (SOO much easier than a mouse ) to turn knobs, press buttons, adjust autopilot settings etc).  

Feet on the rudder pedals.  

Goal is to eliminate the keyboard entirely, but of course that is nearly impossible.   🙂  cheers, 

I only use the mouse, in the same way I did back when flying without VR.

I don't use my VR controllers in flight, I only use them to control the starting of the headset apps, such as virtual desktop etc... but once the headset is ready and the sim is switched to VR mode, I don't touch the VR controllers anymore, only the mouse and my joystick + throttles quadrant.

Just the mouse.  Sometimes it's very laggy though - wish they'd address that.

In my dreams, now Asobo are experimenting with foveated rendering, they will follow it up with hand tracking. To reach out with your hands in VR, see them and “touch” the things you dont have mappings for will be almost magical.

aerofly FS4 has something a bit like it using controllers but we need it based on real hands. Please upvote this if you haven’t already

https://forums.flightsimulator.com/t/hand-tracking-in-msfs-leap-motion-ultraleap-native-support-for-wmr-openxr/475308

Here’s an AF4 video

https://youtu.be/rIA9gwT6j3Y