Hi.

I have a question about Virtual Reality.

On March 2013 the Oculus Rift will ship as a developer kit. Its a VR headset backed by Unity, Unreal, Valve and ID's John Carmack. The headset gyro updates at 1000hz (2ms latency with one frame buffer), it has a field of view of more than 90 degrees horizontal and 110 degrees diagonal (the "screen" is all you see), and its all stereoscopic 3D.

Here is a video of what it looks like: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJo12Hz_BVI

There has been a lot of talk about this device and FPS shooters, but I think racing is the perfect platform. While shooters need 360 degrees of rotation to be competetive, a sim-racer straps the player down to a fixed position. 3D needs 60 FPS without drops, and here is LFS again perfect for even mid computers.

What I would like to know is:
Is this something the LFS team is planning to support?

If you would like to strap on a VR headset and get in to the game, plz let your voice be heard. I realy hope this is something LFS are looking into.

/SaintMain

Sorry but frying my eyeballs to a crisp isn't what I have in mind.

Quote from Bmxtwins :

Sorry but frying my eyeballs to a crisp isn't what I have in mind.

Dont worry Bmxtwins. You only need to worry about the monitor your looking at now.

The Oculus Rift causes very little eye strain, particularly compared to standard displays.

Normally, when you take a break from using a monitor or TV, the idea is to give your eyes a chance to focus and converge on a distant plane. This is a natural position of rest for your eyes.
With the Oculus Rift, your eyes are actually focused and converged in the distance at all times. It’s a pretty neat optical feature.

I think it is possible, TrackIR worked, so I don't see why this wouldn't.

Wow, Can't imagine this in LFS. That would be an amazing experience.

When it will be ready it will be great, I watch the develop of this thing for few months on iR forums and I'm really looking forward to it.

Maybe we need something to read and render arm movements? With this on your head you won't see your real arms.

Quote from Keling :

Maybe we need something to read and render arm movements? With this on your head you won't see your real arms.

And? how is this a problem?

Quote from Keling :

Maybe we need something to read and render arm movements? With this on your head you won't see your real arms.

If you can't see your real arms and wheel, turn the ingame ones back on

It should work just fine, since Nvidia 3D Vision works great too (and tbh... couldn't play LFS anymore without it! )

If the device reports the movements on controller axes (like regular game controllers) then these axes can be mapped to camera (head) movements.
This has been tried a long time ago. I'm trying to think of name of the device that was used .. I think it has been discussed back when we had our forums at RSC. It was a visor and a motion capture device (so two devices used together).
I found an old video of it though : http://www.lfs.net/download/vr2-broad.avi
Sorry for the bad quality - it's old

haha victor I have that version of lfs on my desktop

Quote from Victor :

If the device reports the movements on controller axes (like regular game controllers) then these axes can be mapped to camera (head) movements.
This has been tried a long time ago. I'm trying to think of name of the device that was used .. I think it has been discussed back when we had our forums at RSC. It was a visor and a motion capture device (so two devices used together).
I found an old video of it though : http://www.lfs.net/download/vr2-broad.avi
Sorry for the bad quality - it's old

you are thinking of the VFX-1 from Forte.. that was awfull.

the Oculus Rift SDK ships in two months.. you realy need to take a look at it
this thing will take the immersion of sim's to a whole new level.

Quote from Saintmain :

[..]you realy need to take a look at it
this thing will take the immersion of sim's to a whole new level.

I feel the same way. I have watched the discussions on another forum, and I have to admit that from the info found on the internet, this thing promises indeed "another level". If generally accepted by game developers, I will definitely be on the buyers list when released for public.
Only thinking at LFS + Oculus together .. :faint:

Good thread, "Holyman"

Quote from Victor :

I found an old video of it though : http://www.lfs.net/download/vr2-broad.avi
Sorry for the bad quality - it's old

Sorry for off topic but watching this video i thought: This version of the track could be in the game as an older version, something like "Blackwood 1970", would be awesome

Quote from Saintmain :

you are thinking of the VFX-1 from Forte.. that was awfull.

the Oculus Rift SDK ships in two months.. you realy need to take a look at it
this thing will take the immersion of sim's to a whole new level.

actually i found the names in an old email (hurray for hording emails) :

"[The HMD] is called the Cy-Visor. The device that tracks your heads movement is a separate one, a tracker, and in this case from intertrax. This device clips onto your HMD."

But yeah they're over 10 years old, I'm sure they can do better now.

Quote from Victor :

actually i found the names in an old email (hurray for hording emails) :

"[The HMD] is called the Cy-Visor...

you can still buy the cy-visor.. it's $1799.00 !!!

The Oculus Rift is $300

Even the tech-geeks at the verge rated the Rift, best at CES 2013
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCB19lzAXS8 (19 min. into the video)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJo12Hz_BVI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBylGcvRuek
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uso6vxZ5O4c

and the list goes on...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzCwczY1jTM (promo video)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVDXXfbz3QE ( john carmack talking about VR and the Oculus Rift)

Can't trackIR do that?

Quote from dawesdust_12 :

Can't trackIR do that?

The trackIR is only a tracker, like cinnect. No 360 degree sight and no 3D.. you are still just looking at a screen.

With the Rift, you dont see the screen edges, you only see the world (or in this case, the track).. Together with 3D and no lag on the gyro, you feel as if you are inside the game. I know that sound like a BIG cliche, but I think the reactions in the videos above tells the story.

It's the same thing in essence. Just instead of a static screen, it's a persistent screen covering your FOV.

Quote from dawesdust_12 :

It's the same thing in essence. Just instead of a static screen, it's a persistent screen covering your FOV.

well yes, but not quite. In front of the screen is a fish-eye lense that raps the screen around your eyes.. that is later corrected by software. As a side bonus, in the middle of the screen, the pixels are closer together.
It is nothing like the Sony "big TV" goggles.

with the TrackIR, you are looking through a window, with VR "HMD" you go outside through that window.. its not even close to beeing the same thing.

Regardless, I don't think LFS needs specific support. LFS has phenomenal support for extraneous inputs. If I had a dev device, I'd try it out.. But I don't.

Quote from dawesdust_12 :

Regardless, I don't think LFS needs specific support. LFS has phenomenal support for extraneous inputs. If I had a dev device, I'd try it out.. But I don't.

I hope so

I'll get my DEV kit in march.. After im done with Doom3 (supported), LFS will be the first thing on my list.

I'm cheap, else I'd have one?

Quote from dawesdust_12 :

I'm cheap, else I'd have one?

$300 is a steal.. oculusvr.com