the future of FS?

[Mike Monce - HJG]

So Mark encouraged me to post this to the forum:

Sunday at the museum we had a 50th anniversary of Apollo 11 day. One feature the museum set up was a guy who brought in 10 VR setups that had loaded VR software from NASA with various aspects of the Apollo 11 mission that we then used to have the public experience the moon landing using VR.

WOW! My fellow docent, an ex Delta pilot and flight sim guy, and I just looked at each other amazed. He said, "Well, time to throw out our computers, screens etc...here's the future of flight sim." And I agreed. The ones we used for the public had a very basic controller but are mainly for viewing and only cost $200. The VR fellow showed us a more advanced version that sells for $400 and has external cameras like on the latest cars. That way the VR can incorporate your hands, etc into the display. All that's needed is to add in via bluetooth a yoke, throttles, pedals, and then have the software use the usual clickable panel switches, and you have a totally immersive flight sim. Not only does the scan of the cockpit instruments become natural with small turns of the head, you also have the very necessary peripheral vision and 3d depth of field!

The VR fellow said there is a version that is not stand alone but does connect to a PC to take advantage of the processing and graphics power, which I assume would be the way to go for flight sim. This VR is what the idea of the virtual cockpit was all about but, in my view, never really succeeded. With VR I can see that working seamlessly. If Microsoft doesn't allow for VR in this next release they are fools.

Here's a link to amazon for the $400 standalone version just in case you are curious.

Mike

www.amazon.com/Oculus-Quest-All-Gaming-System-PC/dp/B07HNW68ZC/ref=sr_1_4?keywords=oculus%2Bvr&qid=1563715606&s=gateway&sr=8-4&th=1

[cgw444]

Would be very interested to see developed further. This and rc model railroading in ho and n - truly wireless.

[christrott]

It's slowly coming. Lockheed already directly supports VR in Prepar3D V4 and my understanding is that Laminar will be supporting it in XP12 natively (although it already works fine in XP11) and several of the combat sims (i.e. DCS) also have native VR support as well, so it's moving apace.

The big thing is that the HAPTIC control (i.e. use of controllers/devices that allow movement in 3 dimensions) via hand movement is becoming more and more reliable so there's less and less need for physical devices to complement the VR experience, reducing disorientation during operation. Being able to "reach out" to change a control versus having to know where it is on your HOTAS setup will be what allows many people to move into VR that couldn't otherwise since they may not even need a yoke or joystick (maybe rudder pedals) in the near future.

[Mike Monce - HJG]

I can't see ever using a virtual yoke etc. There's too much feeling in the actual handling that goes into using the actual flight controls that I don't think can be duplicated. Maybe such is less so with a fly by wire system such as the Airbus, but I can't think such a system would be at all useful for a J3 Cub. But it's good to hear P3D and x-plane are already on this track.

Mike

[christrott]

Some of the bleeding edge HAPTIC systems have feedback (uses air bladders and gyros to give "force" and grip) so you will still be able to "feel" what you're gripping, but it's a ways off before it's affordable.