Oculus RIFT Head Mounted Display 90 Degree FOV

[museumsteve]

Dont get me wrong..I am really excited about it I pledged my dosh at the beginning of their kickstarter scheme..I more excited about trying racing with it than anything else (Hawken's a close second)

I cut myself off from the world completely by closing my eyes. It's how I taught myself to be prepared for the Rift, it worked great. I can't see anything, but I can still get all of my buttons easily.

I'm tempted to try that on my way to work tomorrow..the roads are fairly quiet on a Sunday

 

[superbike81]

Haha! I do not recommend trying it on a public street. But I'll bet you that you will be able to to touch all the buttons on your wheel/console and shifter without trouble after a few minutes.

 

[left888]

The last thing I want is to spend a lot of money on my dash and all the hardware and the awesome immersion they provide. Then strap on a big chunk of plastic so I can see in 3d. I love my big 55" HDTV's and all the square footage they provide. iRacing rocks, I don't even notice the bezels.

I can see where Oculus RIFT would be awesome but racing is not one of them. A game like "Turok Dinosaur Hunter" would be a lot of fun. Perhaps even "Doom" would be fun and other 1st person shooter games. As I mentioned, my 55" HDTV's absolutely rock in iRacing and my rig is awesome, so I have no plans on destroying that.

 

[lemansfanatic]

You still have to have a way of seeing your controls at some time otherwise it can never be taken seriously in a racing sim environment IMO. Augmented reality is the obvious way forward I would have thought.

The best part for sim racing will be when adding hand tracking gloves, developers will be able to use the dash buttons from in the game itself, so you wont need to buy any fancy button boxes. For example, pressing the "pit in" button will be done by extendimg your arm in to the air in front of you and the virtual drivers arms will move at the same time to the same location to press that button on the virtual dash. Now incorporating some sort of haptic sensation will be the next problem...

 

[left888]

The best part for sim racing will be when adding hand tracking gloves, developers will be able to use the dash buttons from in the game itself, so you wont need to buy any fancy button boxes. For example, pressing the "pit in" button will be done by extendimg your arm in to the air in front of you and the virtual drivers arms will move at the same time to the same location to press that button on the virtual dash. Now incorporating some sort of haptic sensation will be the next problem...

Isn't that similar to what Microsoft has done with the Xbox and their steering wheel? The one that you sort of hold in the air and pretend it's real?

 

[museumsteve]

I llike the idea of something like dashboard overlays.
Say you could take a picture of your dashboard as it is, then edit it as an overlay and put it in the game as a default dash and then put it in the same place it is in reality. Then it will be in the same place on screen as it is in reality..

 

[lemansfanatic]

Isn't that similar to what Microsoft has done with the Xbox and their steering wheel? The one that you sort of hold in the air and pretend it's real?

No, because with the MS version, you're viewing your tv screen, while sitting on a couch holding a piece of plastic. The rift is just something you incorporate into your cockpit so you'd still use your seat, wheel and shifters, but everything else would be replaced by the virtual racecar you are sitting in -no couches or flatscreen tvs to take you out of the reality that you are in a car.

I llike the idea of something like dashboard overlays.
Say you could take a picture of your dashboard as it is, then edit it as an overlay and put it in the game as a default dash and then put it in the same place it is in reality. Then it will be in the same place on screen as it is in reality..

Yes, this is good to give you an idea of where everthing is located in reality so it will match up in the virtual car and your brain wil fill-in the gaps

 

[superbike81]

The last thing I want is to spend a lot of money on my dash and all the hardware and the awesome immersion they provide. Then strap on a big chunk of plastic so I can see in 3d. I love my big 55" HDTV's and all the square footage they provide. iRacing rocks, I don't even notice the bezels.

I can see where Oculus RIFT would be awesome but racing is not one of them. A game like "Turok Dinosaur Hunter" would be a lot of fun. Perhaps even "Doom" would be fun and other 1st person shooter games. As I mentioned, my 55" HDTV's absolutely rock in iRacing and my rig is awesome, so I have no plans on destroying that.

You are showing that you haven't researched the Oculus Rift AT ALL nor have you ever used a good HMD.

This is more than a chunk of plastic that gives you 3D. But I'm not going to bother explaining it to you because you won't understand anyways. I'll just say this, the immersion a wide FOV HMD provides absolutely blows your 55" HDTV's out of the water. That's a FACT, there is no arguing against it, the only people who disagree with that FACT are people who haven't tried it yet.

No, because with the MS version, you're viewing your tv screen, while sitting on a couch holding a piece of plastic. The rift is just something you incorporate into your cockpit so you'd still use your seat, wheel and shifters, but everything else would be replaced by the virtual racecar you are sitting in -no couches or flatscreen tvs to take you out of the reality that you are in a car.

But then you don't get any kind of tactile feel. At least with a FFB steering wheel and a real shifter and buttons you get to feel them which goes a long way in making things seem more realistic.

Maybe in the future something like that would be feasible, but for right now, I think it will be much better to be able to actually feel feedback in the wheel and shifter and buttons, even if we can't physically see them in front of us.

 

[left888]

No, because with the MS version, you're viewing your tv screen, while sitting on a couch holding a piece of plastic. The rift is just something you incorporate into your cockpit so you'd still use your seat, wheel and shifters, but everything else would be replaced by the virtual racecar you are sitting in -no couches or flatscreen tvs to take you out of the reality that you are in a car.

Well I'm sure it will be a hit with some people perhaps 1% or 2% of iRacers at best. Just the idea of strapping on 2 or 3 lbs of plastic so I can see in 3D is a real turn off. IMO it will catch on in 1st person shooters. I might pick it up one day for say something like Tiger Woods Golf. I'm also guessing that games will take a few versions to work the bugs out and evolve.

Of course you'll get your fan boy types that will be the first on the block to get it and there will be 2 games in development for it.

 

[Mayaman]

Its not even 9 ounces in weight and thats that's distributed over your entire head. Anyway, I have used quality large FOV HMD and its going to be amazing. No triple projection or normal display can touch this type of device for immersion. There is no screen, the effect is just nuts. Well people have to try it, you'll never agree until you try it. Whatever as long as Im happy. Oh and there is already major developer support.

 

[museumsteve]

According to the wiki, rFactor 2 is ready

 

[superbike81]

I saw that too, but I didn't see a source listed.

I know the VorpX driver is coming with support for rFactor 1, but I haven't heard ISI make any official announcements or Tweets saying that support is complete. Seems most of the early-devs have been keeping quiet.

I have wondered just which companies got a early dev kit and why. If I was the PR guy for Oculus, I would have sent an early dev kit to one or two companies for each main type of game that could be easily supported. So get something out to companies for a racing game, flight sim, a few different FPS (since there are so many), possibly a 3rd person game, and then any particularly interesting companies that are showing interest in doing something totally unique. I wonder if Oculus went that route.

Oh, and FPS games are absolutely not going to be the only games to catch on.

I guess some people don't realize that typical FPS's (Doom, Half Life, etc) aren't even the ideal type of game for a HMD. A game where you are stationary sitting in something (a cockpit perhaps?) will be perfect because that's what we are doing when we play games for the most part, sitting. So driving games are perfect, flight sims are perfect, Mech games (slowed down a bit from Hawken's pace) are perfect, etc, etc.

Now of course there will be people who go all out and buy virtual walking devices like the one being developed now on MTBS3D which will put you more into FPS games, but I would class that in a similar category as motion rigs for sim racing and flight sims, only a few people will go to that extent.

Take it from me, someone who has actually used a high FOV HMD, even without headtracking, just looking at a static screenshot from inside a cockpit, the experience is absolutely amazing and the only way to truly understand is to try it out. I felt more in the cockpit than I did with my triple projection setup even, it's THAT good.

Unfortunately some people are so stuck in their ways, that they will completely pass up this revolution in immersion and stick to their "old-tech." Too bad for them, they are really going to miss out.

 

[Mr Latte]

Interesting comments and plenty to take on-board.
The point about a person turning their head and the multi-screen displays being fixed is true for head tracking devices and a little uncomfortable. Although with big enough displays filling your peripheral this may not be that bad.

I see this hardware as an alternative and with extra possibilities for a new experience, however do not see it as one that will replace me wanting a triple projection setup.

3D support is welcomed but even with Nvidia is not without issue's so I think their will be a long way to go for developers yet. What about current titles, being modified yet working without flaws? Can anyone comment on this and have studios confirmed which actual games (not tech demos) will be using this technology upon launch? Sorry I do not follow this religiously and maybe should look more into it.

I am certainly not trying to be ignorant of the possibilities this brings just want a realistic non biased discussion on it. That means looking at the positives and negatives also on the realistic time frame before it is launched and titles you want for it are available.

Do take care though guys not to get sucked in with the hype.
Usually everything has some quirks or isn't always as good as it is made out to be.

 

[museumsteve]

Interesting comments and plenty to take on-board.
The point about a person turning their head and the multi-screen displays being fixed is true for head tracking devices and a little uncomfortable. Although with big enough displays filling your peripheral this may not be that bad.

I see this hardware as an alternative and with extra possibilities for a new experience, however do not see it as one that will replace me wanting a triple projection setup.

3D support is welcomed but even with Nvidia is not without issue's so I think their will be a long way to go for developers yet. What about current titles, being modified yet working without flaws? Can anyone comment on this and have studios confirmed which actual games (not tech demos) will be using this technology upon launch? Sorry I do not follow this religiously and maybe should look more into it.

I am certainly not trying to be ignorant of the possibilities this brings just want a realistic non biased discussion on it. That means looking at the positives and negatives also on the realistic time frame before it is launched and titles you want for it are available.

Do take care though guys not to get sucked in with the hype.
Usually everything has some quirks or isn't always as good as it is made out to be.

I think it's important to remember the consumer version probably wont be available for at least a year (probably more) so it really is a case of early adopters just enjoying some exciting new tech. Also, it's not thousands of pounds, it's $300 so that should be taken into account

 

[lemansfanatic]

Interesting comments and plenty to take on-board.
The point about a person turning their head and the multi-screen displays being fixed is true for head tracking devices and a little uncomfortable. Although with big enough displays filling your peripheral this may not be that bad.

I see this hardware as an alternative and with extra possibilities for a new experience, however do not see it as one that will replace me wanting a triple projection setup.

3D support is welcomed but even with Nvidia is not without issue's so I think their will be a long way to go for developers yet. What about current titles, being modified yet working without flaws? Can anyone comment on this and have studios confirmed which actual games (not tech demos) will be using this technology upon launch? Sorry I do not follow this religiously and maybe should look more into it.

I am certainly not trying to be ignorant of the possibilities this brings just want a realistic non biased discussion on it. That means looking at the positives and negatives also on the realistic time frame before it is launched and titles you want for it are available.

Do take care though guys not to get sucked in with the hype.
Usually everything has some quirks or isn't always as good as it is made out to be.

I was also curious as to how much traction a device like this would have on sim racing until I saw what developers have already purchased it and are planning support for it. According to Wikipedia site, there are many games already in production or planned support for the Rift including iRacing(Planned), RFactor2 (support is ready now), and Project Cars (Planned). So the developers some of the best racing simulation games will be supporting this device by purchasing the dev kit version, it sounds legit that this will be more than hype. (I hope).

Head tracking... I don't see the point of head tracking currently because you have to turn your head while keeping your eyes forward = not natural. I don't see why you would need head tracking in a tripple monitor setup anyways as the point of having 3 monitors is to cover your peripheral vision.

3D Support: As far as the graphical power needed to run this, from what I read I remember the creators saying it takes the same or less processing power to run in the Rift as a normal tripple monitor setup, so no worries that it will tax your card any harder than your current setup. The biggest problems of 3D support will have to do with how the games will required to be in Full 1080p 60hz STEREOSCOPIC 3D so that is the reason many developers are not able to meet the demands of the rift, because they haven't been challenged to create 1080p 60hz stereoscopic 3D games - yet.

But then you don't get any kind of tactile feel. At least with a FFB steering wheel and a real shifter and buttons you get to feel them which goes a long way in making things seem more realistic.

Maybe in the future something like that would be feasible, but for right now, I think it will be much better to be able to actually feel feedback in the wheel and shifter and buttons, even if we can't physically see them in front of us.

Well, yes and no. Certain aspects of sim racing will never be able to be completely removed, like the wheel, shifter and pedals. These you must have to complete the immersion because they require you to add physical force, and with wheels with high power FFB motors sometimes a LOT of force. This is important to haptic immersion that can't be removed. Now, something simple like a button push can be incorporated into vitual world without completely ruining the experience. Just like in the picture posted on VirtualR.Net of Palmer Lackey (the creator of the rift), he is substituting a traditional display for a head mounted display, but is still using a regular FFB racing wheel and pedals. Heres the link again to the picture just in case you missed it:http://www.virtualr.net/oculus-rift-racing-game-testing-started

Theres lots of cool YouTube videos on this, but this was one of my favorites:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBylGcvRuek

 

[MauroAC]

It will be awesome. For motion rigs - as our body/heads move your POV will slightly change - it will be amazing!!!!!!

 

[left888]

Its not even 9 ounces in weight and thats that's distributed over your entire head. Anyway, I have used quality large FOV HMD and its going to be amazing. No triple projection or normal display can touch this type of device for immersion. There is no screen, the effect is just nuts. Well people have to try it, you'll never agree until you try it. Whatever as long as Im happy. Oh and there is already major developer support.

Each to his own I suppose, consider me old school. I have not ruled this out entirely, after all I have been following this project from day one. I just like my set up as it stands now. My triple 55" HDTV's are wrapped completely around 3 sides of my cockpit and although they are not 3D, I love the immersion it presents.

As I stated previously I think there will be many excellent games eventually, such as 1st person shooters. Of course this is just my opinion and as yours it should be heard.

 

[museumsteve]

Lol..i dont mind your replies mate, but it cracks me up that you feel the need to remind everyone that you have 55" screens

 

[left888]

Lol..i dont mind your replies mate, but it cracks me up that you feel the need to remind everyone that you have 55" screens

Is there a problem with that Steve? Not everyone is aware that I run triple 55" HDTV's. I get PM's at least twice a month from interested parties on large panel TV's.

As well, when was the last time I said "My TV's are wrapped completely around 3 sides of my cockpit"?

 

[LogiForce]

I think I will get this instead of triples. It just gives the same immersion in a much smaller packages.
I only hope they will retina grade displays as it would become annoying to see pixels when the displays are mounted this close.

Deeply impressed with what I have seen so far. For sure a step up from the virtual boy, some idea of immersion and control but now the hardware to drive it is much more capable and ready for the product.

 

[lemansfanatic]

I only hope they will retina grade displays as it would become annoying to see pixels when the displays are mounted this close.

This will be the biggest problem for most - is the picture quality. It won't compare to 3 1080p monitors, because it will be impossible to completely remove the visible pixelation having the display so close to your head. It will be a trade off until the microdisplay companies start producing products specifically designed for head mounted displays. For $300 I can live with slightly reduced resolution if it is more immersive than tripple projection (which is the route I was going to take until I found out about this)

 

[LogiForce]

This will be the biggest problem for most - is the picture quality. It won't compare to 3 1080p monitors, because it will be impossible to completely remove the visible pixelation having the display so close to your head. It will be a trade off until the microdisplay companies start producing products specifically designed for head mounted displays. For $300 I can live with slightly reduced resolution if it is more immersive than tripple projection (which is the route I was going to take until I found out about this)

Well, we can already conclude that they are aiming for a higher density screen since they wish to go for a higher resolution for the consumer version. The screen dimensions won't change I reckon, or at least not much. So they can only go for smaller pixels to achieve a higher resolution, giving more hope for an almost non-noticeable pixelation effect.

They might even go for the new bendable plastic OLED screens from samsung, though this is just my hope. The flexible thin screens would just be perfect for the application in the Rift. The technique looked cool at least and great for many applications in tight spaces.

 

[superbike81]

Many people make the mistake of seeing that this is 3D and associating it with what we commonly see today with 3D at the movie theaters and with Nvidia 3D Vision and other such setups. The 3D in the Oculus Rift is true stereoscopic 3D, so it's more like the "3D" that we see in real life. Each eye is getting a slightly different image and then our brain is putting it together. It's not glasses making the image 3D for us by using a shuttering effect shutting off one eye at a time alternating rapidly. So you don't get the typical drawbacks of traditional 3D like crosstalk and ghosting.

As I said before, you have to try one to really understand the difference I guess.

Well, we can already conclude that they are aiming for a higher density screen since they wish to go for a higher resolution for the consumer version. The screen dimensions won't change I reckon, or at least not much. So they can only go for smaller pixels to achieve a higher resolution, giving more hope for an almost non-noticeable pixelation effect.

They might even go for the new bendable plastic OLED screens from samsung, though this is just my hope. The flexible thin screens would just be perfect for the application in the Rift. The technique looked cool at least and great for many applications in tight spaces.

Oculus has claimed that they don't like the extra weight (20g or so) that the 7" screen makes or the decreased pixel density so they will be aiming to go back to a smaller screen in the 5-6" size range again.

 

[Sphinx]

Just a reminder to everyone to play the ball, not the man, when involved in a discussion.

Also, I lost count the number of double and triple posts I've had to merge in this topic. The topic is now nice and tidy. Please keep it that way. 👍

 

[LogiForce]

Oculus has claimed that they don't like the extra weight (20g or so) that the 7" screen makes or the decreased pixel density so they will be aiming to go back to a smaller screen in the 5-6" size range again.

Didn't know this as I am only just getting interested in this, so I am still reading up on it I suppose
This change in the rift is not bad per say as long as the correct lens is used to make use of the smaller screen properly. I am sure they know what they are doing.

I can't wait till the consumer version is released and try this myself.

 

[LeMansAid]

With a quick search I saw no suggestion of a transparent lcd being used. Would be ideal to be able to set up what is and is not a displayed image. Of course in a racing/driving sim, displayed image might need to fade from full image to black to transparent as it approaches the cockpit area. Until an individual has tried this type of thing it is difficult to avoid the automatic jump to the closest known comparison, a video camera. It is difficult to get one's head around the idea that the image is independent of one's movements. Heres hoping that transparent lcds are eventually adopted even if for safety or convenience reasons so that it can be exploited for the sake of all that is fun. Please excuse if I have displayed minor or major ignorance on this topic.

Edit: Ahh, and to clarify, I mean when an image is displayed on a video camera. ie. running time, battery indicator, etc. I do realise that real life acts independently of my vision!

 

[NeoAgent]

I think a combination of this and augmented reality would work just fine for seeing the steering wheel, etc. Any idea if this is being considered?

 

[LogiForce]

Just found these little videos. Most interesting.

Oculus DriVR teaser:


Unboxing of the Dev Kit:


Edit:

Doh! Were already posted if I just went back some pages.

 

[smokey777]

This will be the biggest problem for most - is the picture quality. It won't compare to 3 1080p monitors, because it will be impossible to completely remove the visible pixelation having the display so close to your head. It will be a trade off until the microdisplay companies start producing products specifically designed for head mounted displays. For $300 I can live with slightly reduced resolution if it is more immersive than tripple projection (which is the route I was going to take until I found out about this)

I think a way around this will be to use displays like in the Xperia Z 443ppi they are stunning to look at 👍

 

[superbike81]

It all depends on what kind of setup you have. There is no doubt that graphical quality will initially be significantly lower, but that's a tradeoff I'm willing to make for greatly enhanced immersion.

Of course once the consumer version is released, graphical quality will be greatly increased. There are a few different ways they will increase graphical quality, one being the obvious increased resolution up to 1920x1080 or even higher plus the screen will be smaller than 7" most likely for better PPI. But also they have talked about different ways to concentrate more pixels in the center area of each screen so the vision will be much like our own eyes where things are perfectly clear where we are staring but increasingly blurry to the limits of our peripheral vision. They have also talked about doing creative things with the lenses as well.

So it's no doubt that we will be taking a slight step backwards in graphical quality for these initial stages, but it's a huge step forward in immersion. An acceptable tradeoff in my opinion, as long as it's only temporary.