Oculus RIFT, HTC Vive, or 21:9 monitor

I posted a similar topic on steam but figured this might get more responses.

I'm looking to purchase one of the above to provide an experience as close as possible to real life. I track a 2008 GSX R750 in life but have to sell it in 2 weeks due to priorities and life. Obviously, all motorcycle sims suck because you cannot simulate the g-forced needed to keep a rider on the bike when leaned over without actually moving. The next best thing is car sims and I've had this on my Steam account for awhile.

The biggest problem I've found with every simulation is the inability to look through turns (I do not want to push a button to move my head left/right). All 3 examples should provide the same ability. I would really appreciate input from people who have experience with motorsports in real life and perhaps a detailed comparison.

Thank you!

 

Triple screens. 27" if you have space, but even 3x23" make wonders compared to any single screen you can find
Rift/Vive will work too if you can live with inferior resolution and have a really powerful PC
Single 21:9 screen won't let you look into turns unless you use fish-eye ultrawide field of view which is way too unrealistic

 

You never mentioned if you have a wheel? And your PC specs would help.

 

@Lienhart,

I have both (see specs in signature) until i got the DK2 i really enjoyed driving AC on a curved 34" 21:9 monitor, not having the bezels like in a 3 way monitor set up was a big plus for me and takes up much less room, the definition and clarity are probably the best you can get. I positioned mine directly above my wheel and adjusted the view/pov to get as near to a 1:1 view as possible, combined with my head tracker (TrackIR-3) it is very good.

But once i got the DK2 that changed. It terms of immersion VR for sim racing wins hands down every time. But there are comprises, firstly the quality of the display is nowhere near as crisp as running AC on my 34" curved 21:9 monitor esecaily when looking into the distance and the screen door effect can be be very noticeable to some people. Also VR is not for everyone, i have had many friends try it and they either cant get their eyes to focus correctly or it just makes them feel sick.

With all that said for me, VR wins over all other types of display for sim racing (monitor (x1 & x3), DLP projected) , but you need a power system to run it and need to be sure that your eyes and brain can get on with it. The shear realism of being able to move your head and see where your looking in true 3D can never ever be recreated with a 2d display system .. even with head tracking .... with VR your are IN that world ... in a few years time once the displays in the headsets are 4 times the resolution they are now and we have GPU's and CPU's capable of running such headsets then the question will be redundant ... but until then its a tricky question and each person needs to decide if VR sim racing works for them.

I would suggest trying VR out with AC first before buying a headset ... either at a trade show or at a track event where booths are popping up all the time.

AC runs great on a DK2 which you can pick up relatively cheep on ebay ... but be aware you may need to use 3d printed lens separators if you have a non standard IPD and the DK2 is not officially supported anymore by Oculus, but since i don't play any games or use VR for any any other purpose other than running AC it works very well ... in fact the only reason i have Windows installed at all is to run AC .... all other times i use Mac OSX.

Cheers
Jay

 

Thank you for your input. I have a strong feeling that with triple screens, hairpin turns are still a huge problem. In real life my head is twisted past 90 degrees for tight hair pins but I do have a few monitors lying around so I will try it out!

Thank you very much for the in-depth response. I agree that I do need to give VR a try. I have extremely poor eye sight (-9/-9 and astigmatism) which has resulted in some rather ****ty moments like eyes getting dry with contacts while flying 300km/h down a straight and squinting with one eye, closed with the other, trying to brake for the upcoming turn. I remember using the DK2 during a presentation but having issues with the fitment due to my glasses. Aside from that, I thought the DK2 looked amazing. I didn't have issues with motion sickness or focus but the glasses thing is a big big problem.

I live up in Toronto, Canada and our motorsport scene is non existent except for rice-fest filled import shows but I'll be on the lookout. I'm going to give Best Buy a call to see if I can order, try, and refund if it blows.

And with regards to my computer specs, they aren't a problem (i7 920 @ 4 ghz, Geforce 1070, 24GB RAM). I do need to get a PCI-e 3.0 USB card though but that's cheap compared to the rest of this stuff.

 

take a read here on glasses + cv1:
https://support.oculus.com/help/oculus/240118749657829/?ref=hc_fnav

the how do i wear section implies that you need to mess with the straps every time you want to put the headset on (to avoid scratching the lenses i guess)

i love how convenient it is to just throw on like a cap, and think that having to adjust every time would be quite a turn-off, although perhaps you can get away with just doing the top strap.

if you do get a rift, id see if there are any other options than the inateck card that oculus recommend, the support for it is really poor.

 

I wouldn't be so sure about your PC. Your GPU is very good and VR ready for sure, but your CPU is several generations old and might be the bottleneck. I'm running an ivy bridge i5 @ 4.4 GHz and I can't run full grid of AI without a huge FPS drop on start of the race down to about 60 on triples, that would be even worse with VR

 

I've moved from triples to a Vive. There's simply no going back now, I've stopped using sims that don't have a VR option, it's that much of a game changer for me.

 

Thanks for the heads up. Worst case scenario is that I build a new rig...it's not like I won't have money after selling my bike......... :'(

 

As far as i know ivy bridge is not supposed to be for heavy gaming it mostly supports power efficiency tech

 

I agree that it is not the best gamer's choice nowadays, but back in early 2013 whan I built my PC it was the latest CPU tech from Intel and was outperforming prior generation (Sandy Bridge) running on the same frequency and it would beat the hell out of any LGA1366 CPU in gaming. Anyway my point was that AC is a pretty CPU-demanding game if you want to have more than 60 fps and 7-year old CPU tech is probably not enough for that

 

From what you've said and what I've seen (AC is running at 100+ FPS for me in benchmark mode, everything maxed). The "full grid" might be the only issue due to AI calculations. I don't care about the AI as I will be running time attack 99% of the time. I appreciate the insight though!

...just gotta figure out what to do with the usb 3.0 controller though.

 

ideally find any pci-e to usb 3 with Fresco Logic FL1100EX thats not inateck.

the inateck works but if you use the MS stock driver the oculus app gives you a warning and advises you to update the driver. and randomly reports the rift as usb2 instead of 3. but if you install the inateck driver (which is outdated and only lists win8 support) the rift will randomly cut out after some time due to a power saving issue in the drivers allowing it to put the device to sleep when it shouldnt, so you are forced to use the MS driver. it works but for a recommended card its a terrible user experience

 

Hi fellow Canadian, in light of your question, I can only offer my experience, despite the little inconvenience of comfort and resolution, VR goggles are the way to go. As far as inconvenience, wearing vr goggles is much more comfortable than wearing an helmet, I also used to do track day, on my ZX6 at Calabogie, sold my bike this spring,
For the resolution, being in the car and on the track instead of watching a 2D screen, even if it is a 4K screen, bring simulation to a totally different level, that if you are into simulation as opposed to play game.
What I did, bought a DK2 used and I got amazed. A used DK2 will run just fine on your system and if you don't like it you can resale it for the same money you paid, the GTA is a huge market and Kijiji is your best friend.
If you like it you can either keep it and wait for VR to evolve ( better resolution) or change it for a CV version or Vive.
those are my 2 (Canadian) cents.

 

How painful was it? I honestly think I might drop a few tears lol

Thank your for your 2 Canadian cents. I will look into trying it out ASAP...but it looks like I may rebuild my computer first after the bike is gone.

 

Yup, I have this one, the only thing is to use the MS driver and ignore the warning:

https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B00ME7454O/ref=pe_386430_195647270_TE_dp_2

I don't have the issue of the ports being reported as USB2, once a day Oculus looses the sensor for a few seconds, that's about it.

 

If you just wish to look through turns, try the Real Head Motion app - it makes the world of difference

 

@Lienhart,

I too have very bad eye sight, -6 in one eye and -4 in the other with astigmatism ... i cant see a thing without strong glasses .... however with the DK2 once i got the custom lens separators (my ipd is 58.5) i find i can use the DK2 without glasses which is a revelation, if like me you cant see a thing over 1M in font of you WITHOUT glasses but you are ABLE to read a book or use a tablet if you put it close to your nose then you may find that VR will work well for you which is odd as most of my friends have 20/20 vision and yet they cant get on with it ? .... its almost as if my bad eye sight is a bonus when it comes to VR ...

I have read that many consider the DK2 optics superior to the CV1 but cant confirm myself as i only have DK2 ... but it may be a factor for why i get on with it so well.

Cheers
Jay

 

RHM is best at controlling camera shake to make us see things as we would in real life. The look to apex functionality is secondary, and it did not work well for me.

Being able to look where you want in VR is just a different beast (now I'm able to better catch slides, not to mention being able hitting apexes consistently).

 

I had a single 4K monitor and it produced a very beautiful picture. I moved to VR (Rift). The picture is nowhere as sharp but this is more than made up for by 3D and head tracking.

I am also near sighted but not like you. My glasses fit OK in the Rift. I've learned to take it on and off easily and don't make any adjustments other than moving the unit around on my head to get it centered for the sharpest view.

It really does feel like you are really driving the car, my unit is augmented with SimVide and 4 bass shakers. It produces a very immersive experience.

It really is incredible how realistic a modern sim rig can be with high grade FF wheels, pressure sensitive brakes, reticulated clutches, quality h-shifters, VR, and tactile amplifiers all driven by a high quality simulation system like Assetto Corsa.

I sold a Porsche 911 Turbo because the pleasure derived was drowned out by the cost of upkeep. I get my dose of fast driving everyday in my sim rig and really haven't looked back.