- 4,555
- Australia
Hi guys,
Not sure if someone else has discussed a similar thing, but I was recently a guest of Gran Turismo at World Time Attack in Sydney in my line of work, and, after fan-girling over Keiichi Tsuchiya who was playing just before me, I was invited to try a GT Sport demo with the VR headset. I just thought I'd give some impressions of my lap around the Nurburgring in a Mustang Gr.4.
Physics:
Playing with a wheel is something I'm actually not used to in racing games/sims although I do my best to recreate the drama with a gamepad, using manual with a clutch on both Forza and Project Cars II. I would say that everything came amazingly naturally. I'm quite used to enjoying the odd wrestle with the wheel of a real car and those skills kept me on the track throughout the lap. I will reserve final judgement however, as I feel that in the selected 'expert' driving mode, there were still one or two odd things going on with the physics that me and my colleague thought might have been coded in to the demo to make people think they were better drivers than they actually were. There were a few times where I thought I had totally cooked it, yet managed to bring the front end round under full brakes in a way that really shouldn't be possible. Every aid was apparently off. For the most part though, I really got into it and my inexperienced self was impressed with the force feedback.
Sounds:
Can't comment too much as there was a 767B doing laps outside that was decidedly louder than the headphones, but the 'Stang seemed to sound like a V8, happily. Not as rorty as perhaps in PCII or FM but miles better than before. I just wish they'd add in a little more aggressive-sounding gear change if we aren't shifting with a clutch, as it's always sounded quite dry, simply like a change of engine pitch. I didn't notice anything funny happening when I moved my head, so I guess the surround integration with VR works quite well.
VR/Graphics:
Strangely I wasn't as enamoured with the integration as some other people having a go. This could be down to me having quite a bit of experience with VR before due to a good friend working in the industry so I was used to the novelty. VR headsets have a long way to go in terms of resolution and the Playstation VR is no exception. If it's a crisp experience you are looking for, a 4K TV (or 3) will serve you a lot better. Oddly the other thing I thought was lacking was a proper sense of depth, and in turn, speed. Sure, the 3D effect is sensational and you really do feel like you're sitting in a car, but with VR still being essentially a 2D screen (and not a very big one in your field of vision at that), I found it hard to judge how fast the apexes were coming up and I was usually braking quite early. Because the trees aren't whizzing by you (remember, flat 2D screen, not wrap around viewing), the experience isn't as immersive as you might initially expect, but it does look VERY cool when you move/tilt your head to the side.
It wasn't all bad though. As mentioned before, you really DO feel like you're sitting in these things. The way it lets you look into a corner naturally is sensational and I was amazed how naturally it all felt. Instincts naturally kicking in once I saw signs of the car letting go. The freedom to move your head and have it replicated in the game was so cool - personally I needed to do this as I couldn't fully hear the engine note and my shift lights were blocked by my steering wheel, so I had to move my head in order to shift properly.
Added camera motion wasn't an issue. There was enough to let me know my virtual self was being thrown around, but not enough to throw me off, make me dizzy or make me sick.
The biggest triumph of GT with VR for me was the sense of undulation. I have run countless laps of the Nurburgring on various games from GT4 onwards, and I have seen countless irl youtube videos where people have commented that they were 'not ready for the elevation change just from playing video games' and I always thought they had no idea what they were on about. GT Sport with VR REALLY gives a good idea of what they are on about. Steepness of hills, the way the road just drops away in some sections, was implemented sublimely. Just amazing depth that no TV or laser scanned track could ever give you. I was shocked how different the track felt, simply down to the elevation change that all these people were talking about.
In the end I was really hooked in to the experience, to the point that it felt genuinely unnerving to take my hands off the Logitec wheel and have the hands in VR keep gripping the wheel of the Mustang at the end of my go. I feel if I had the game with VR, I'd get used to the shortfalls I found (like anyone initially getting used to a different sized TV). In all it was a fantastic experience and I loved every minute of it. I just can't wait until the tech gets better and more mainstream.
👍
Not sure if someone else has discussed a similar thing, but I was recently a guest of Gran Turismo at World Time Attack in Sydney in my line of work, and, after fan-girling over Keiichi Tsuchiya who was playing just before me, I was invited to try a GT Sport demo with the VR headset. I just thought I'd give some impressions of my lap around the Nurburgring in a Mustang Gr.4.
Physics:
Playing with a wheel is something I'm actually not used to in racing games/sims although I do my best to recreate the drama with a gamepad, using manual with a clutch on both Forza and Project Cars II. I would say that everything came amazingly naturally. I'm quite used to enjoying the odd wrestle with the wheel of a real car and those skills kept me on the track throughout the lap. I will reserve final judgement however, as I feel that in the selected 'expert' driving mode, there were still one or two odd things going on with the physics that me and my colleague thought might have been coded in to the demo to make people think they were better drivers than they actually were. There were a few times where I thought I had totally cooked it, yet managed to bring the front end round under full brakes in a way that really shouldn't be possible. Every aid was apparently off. For the most part though, I really got into it and my inexperienced self was impressed with the force feedback.
Sounds:
Can't comment too much as there was a 767B doing laps outside that was decidedly louder than the headphones, but the 'Stang seemed to sound like a V8, happily. Not as rorty as perhaps in PCII or FM but miles better than before. I just wish they'd add in a little more aggressive-sounding gear change if we aren't shifting with a clutch, as it's always sounded quite dry, simply like a change of engine pitch. I didn't notice anything funny happening when I moved my head, so I guess the surround integration with VR works quite well.
VR/Graphics:
Strangely I wasn't as enamoured with the integration as some other people having a go. This could be down to me having quite a bit of experience with VR before due to a good friend working in the industry so I was used to the novelty. VR headsets have a long way to go in terms of resolution and the Playstation VR is no exception. If it's a crisp experience you are looking for, a 4K TV (or 3) will serve you a lot better. Oddly the other thing I thought was lacking was a proper sense of depth, and in turn, speed. Sure, the 3D effect is sensational and you really do feel like you're sitting in a car, but with VR still being essentially a 2D screen (and not a very big one in your field of vision at that), I found it hard to judge how fast the apexes were coming up and I was usually braking quite early. Because the trees aren't whizzing by you (remember, flat 2D screen, not wrap around viewing), the experience isn't as immersive as you might initially expect, but it does look VERY cool when you move/tilt your head to the side.
It wasn't all bad though. As mentioned before, you really DO feel like you're sitting in these things. The way it lets you look into a corner naturally is sensational and I was amazed how naturally it all felt. Instincts naturally kicking in once I saw signs of the car letting go. The freedom to move your head and have it replicated in the game was so cool - personally I needed to do this as I couldn't fully hear the engine note and my shift lights were blocked by my steering wheel, so I had to move my head in order to shift properly.
Added camera motion wasn't an issue. There was enough to let me know my virtual self was being thrown around, but not enough to throw me off, make me dizzy or make me sick.The biggest triumph of GT with VR for me was the sense of undulation. I have run countless laps of the Nurburgring on various games from GT4 onwards, and I have seen countless irl youtube videos where people have commented that they were 'not ready for the elevation change just from playing video games' and I always thought they had no idea what they were on about. GT Sport with VR REALLY gives a good idea of what they are on about. Steepness of hills, the way the road just drops away in some sections, was implemented sublimely. Just amazing depth that no TV or laser scanned track could ever give you. I was shocked how different the track felt, simply down to the elevation change that all these people were talking about.
In the end I was really hooked in to the experience, to the point that it felt genuinely unnerving to take my hands off the Logitec wheel and have the hands in VR keep gripping the wheel of the Mustang at the end of my go. I feel if I had the game with VR, I'd get used to the shortfalls I found (like anyone initially getting used to a different sized TV). In all it was a fantastic experience and I loved every minute of it. I just can't wait until the tech gets better and more mainstream.
👍
