Oculus Rift CV1 vs HTC Vive for AC - What is the best?

Hey everyone,

Which is the best VR headset for AC = CV1 or VIVE?

List your opinions and Pros/Cons for each headset. Would be great to hear from people who own or have tested both headsets with AC.

Anyone who has tested with a motion simulator (2/3 DOF) please give some feedback on motion tracking and if the rapid head movements have improved from the DK2.

From the research I've done so far this is the main thing I keep hearing from users:

CV1 = Sharp/crisp but darker image (like driving with tinted glasses)
Vive = Brighter image which feels more immersive

 

I have the chance to own both and i love both.
The vive roomscale experience is great but useless for racing, except it is super fun to walk around your car and appreciate all the details. And the open environnement of Steam is better than Home.
I dont really feel the darker screen of the rift. But i really dont like the soft corners of the vive and the less sharp image is a problem to read the dial of the cockpits.
and if you play a game able to race at night, you will more see the fresnel circles of the vive than the rift.
God rays are more visible on the rift but i would say it is less a problem than circles.
Looks like Oculus worked really hard on the optic parts.

So i would say, even if the Vive is a great product, go for the rift, if you want to use it for racing especially
all of my friends who tried my headsets with Pcars and now AC agree with that but you can read tons of review on the net with different advices. Difficult to understand if it is subjective advices due to HTC/Oculus/valve/facebook image or eyes perception...

 

Great info! Thanks

This thread is aimed at a seated only AC experience and it sounds like the CV1 is the better choice from your perspective.

I've had my CV1 on pre-order since 20 minutes after pre-orders opened and I still haven't received it. I got a chance to test the Vive today and it was very good but I only got to try the "room space" demos and didn't get a chance to sit down and drive. I only plan to use VR for AC so I want the best seated experience as possible. I also have a motion simulator so tracking is important as well.

 

Make your decision based on non-racing needs imo. There will be very little difference for use in sims/racing as far as I can tell.

 

I think there is still enough of a difference in sim racing to affect the choice of what headset to buy. There are many people who only use VR with AC and will want to know what headset to go for after using their DK2 for so long.

GamerMuscle and slopps have both said they prefer the brightness of the Vive over the CV1 for sim racing although I think GM hasn't tested his Vive with AC yet. Icebear says that his friend and himself prefer the CV1 for AC. These are the types of discussions that are good to be had.

 

I have CV1 but unfortunately have never tried the Vive. I have tried to read many experiences and made my choice with the focus on driving sims. Below I will write the criteria that I feel important:

- Image quality: The concensus seems to be that the rift is slightly sharper, and has a larger sweetspot. The Vive is brighter. Having tried the CV1 I can say that the brightness is good, I have never thought I wanted brighter image. It's definatly not like driving with tinted glasses. But maybe it appears that way if you try them both right after eachother.

-Field of view: most people who have tried both say the Vive has slightly larger FOV. Again, both headsets are said to be quite close so I just pretend I'm wearing a racing helmet .

- Tracking: Different methods, but for simracing they are equal. Vive can track a larger volume of space, but thats not neccesary when your seated anyway. CV1 can track me perfectly behind my desk and in my rig and walking around my car is not a problem either. At the end of the cable length ill loose tracking because the camera isnt aimed in that direction.

- Comfort: concensus is the CV1 is better. It is very light, easy to put on and when properly adjusted you hardly feel it. The integrated headset is very nice too, good soundquality and makes it a lot easier to put the thing on.

- Price: for me CV1 is 200 euro's cheaper. Vive costs more because motion controllers are included. These are useless unless you want them for other games.

So overal, and imho, a slight advantage to the CV1. It would definately help if you can try both and see for yourself how you like it especially in the area of brightness, sharpness and FOV. The differences are supposed to be small, but maybe you care a lot about sharpness or FOV?

 

i know every eyes are different and i always focus on sharpness when i have to choose an optic for my camera or a screen.
but i would not say the difference is very little.
The cockpit is really easier to read with the rift and the overall image more sharp, with is better for immersion.
For many games, this sharpness is useless or even not visible but for a cockpit, it is usefull.
but once again, i understand everyone has a different perception (i dont care about color accuracy but i like deep blacks for exemple)

about tracking, i would say both are perfect for racing use, and when i say perfect, it is millimeter precision. For roomscale, Vive should be better.

i know noone else who share my advice but i think the vive is more confortable. I dont say Rift is not, but the vive fits more my head. I can use both for hours without problems. Of course, i have a VR face on my skin but i dont care, an helmet would be worse anyway

 

Excellent info guys! It sounds like I'm best to stick with my CV1 pre-order.

About the Vive brightness, I believe that the people who favour it for sim racing like the vibrant colour/contrast over the CV1. It's good to hear that the CV1 brightness is good and not as tinted as other people say.

I did find the Vive was very comfortable when I tried it on today! Some awesome person is letting me have a look at their CV1 next week so hopefully I'll get an idea of the difference between the two.

 

Thank you for your words. I also like my Rift, but I'm still waiting on my CV1, until I have it, I use my good old DK2.

And what I wanted to say, with my Rift I also can stand up and ave a look around my car, but only as far as the cable let me ;-)) This is unbelieveable with the old Lotus 49, try it! and when you do the same with Project Cars, you see squares as intakes of the Lotus motor. (I hope, I found the right words, because of my english)

 

Many write that CV1 has much darker picture than Vive.

Is it only in AC dark or in all games (problem of the game or problem of the headset?)?

And isn't it possible to adjust brightness (in options menu or with Page-Up/Down...) to eliminate this "disadvantage"?

 

Ive never noticed that the image was too dark in any game using my rift. I never thought about it untill i read it in this forum. I dont know if the brightness can be adjusted (because i never wanted to).

I know the vive screens can achieve higher brightness, but in my experience that is not neccesary. Maybe other people are more sensitive or some rifts have too dark screens (in wich case you should request a new one under warranty).

 

Then this can be an issue.

 

Basically you're saying that vive screens are brighter but it is not an issue beacause you have some chance of not getting a ****ty rift screen......

 

If that is all you got from my post, let me rephrase:

I have tried 1 rift. Brightness was good. I dont want it higher or lower. Other people may have other experiences and i can imagine multiple reasons for that.

 

I've read many user reviews in the Oculus forums where those with both HMD's echo the same feelings: Both are great HMD's, neither has a clear-cut major advantage over the other aside from the Vive offering room scale now whereas, CV1's will come later and the cost has not been announced. Most agree, CV1 has slightly better optics with less SDE and wider focal coverage; Vive has a somewhat larger perceived FOV (vertically) and slightly brighter display. The Rift generally has better comfort and lighter weight for most people but, there were a few cases where users preferred the Vive saying that it may depend on the size and shape of the users head. Most agree that the Rift headphones sound very good and are convenient to use and were preferred over the HTC ear-buds or separate headphones. The Vive's tracking solution works great and offers somewhat greater coverage but, comparisons to the Rift's system can't be fully measured until there is a second camera available with the Touch controllers. The Touch controllers are said to offer a couple of advantages over the Vive's

Overall, most users felt that both HMD's are worthy but, for those interested in Room-Scale VR, Vive is ready now. For seated VR, the Rift's slightly better image quality gives it a slight edge. For those that can't try both, one can only try to weigh what features are more important to them. I don't recall reading any reports saying that the Rift display is too dark, just that the Vive's is somewhat brighter by comparison. Decide what's most important for your use, get one and enjoy it.

 

Neither, wait for another year.
Virtual reality is incredible, but that doesn't mean you should buy a Rift or Vive yet
Why you shouldn’t pre-order an Oculus Rift
5 Reasons You Should Wait to Buy the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive

 

Wait another 5 years and you should be sorted.
And thank us for adopting a new technology and giving it a future.....

 

Ive got some questions for the VR users

How is the world perception affecting your speed and general on track awareness?
Is it disorientating when your camera view shifts like we see in some vids or its a more smooth and progressive look where your head is pointing?
Is there a fov tolerance regarding the adjustment values or its just the ''right'' one in order for things to look ok?
Are you able to judge distances the same,better,worse than on triple screens-assuming you had a triple set-?
Is drifting as easy as with a triple screen set or its more challenging due to the continuous view shift?
Is the yaw perception close to the one with a 2d screen -do you ''see'',''feel'' just as easy when the rear end of the car lets go-?

edit: one more i forgot,has it affected your laptimes in any way?

Most of the above will be answered after a test with a VR set but id like to hear how you guys cope/transitioned to the above.

 

Interesting reads, the first in particular, chapter (6). If you ask me, the most sober look at the current state of VR.
We had DK1 (2012), DK2 (2014), CV1 (2016), so yeah, we have waited 5 years already, but with what gets released into the wild and the current state of the market (software and hardware support), it just doesn't feel that the wait is over.