I fully agree that VR headsets will win over Track IR sometime IN THE FUTURE.

Right now, would people who use these systems comment so we can have an open frank conversation about which is best as time, and this conversation go on.

14/12/2015 (US time, 20 minutes into the future) Track IR currently gives you the ability to look around, use keyboard shortcuts, controllers etc. Also it allows you to see your keyboard etc and exist in the non virtual world. This is really important both as a racer, and with flight programs !!!, I'm sure that the VR world will move forward but how many programs manage now ??? as technology moves forward this will be brought into the VR world but NOW, this is really important to most users.

From what I read, the VR world has problems with this ATM, but that's based on watching videos and reading reviews. I'm sure that tech will move forward but right now it seems that TrackIR works better, at least for people like me. For those who use VR, what do you think ?

Comments from those into VR, Agree, disagree, whatever ?

you are able to do most of the things you mention above with VR, Also depends of what type of programs you mean and finally it is 2 different types of products and you would not buy a virtual reality set if all you wanted was the head tracking onscreen where a vr kit gives you the tracking and virtual world

I'm using almost a year EDTracker with OpenTrack, kind of cheaper alternative to Track IR, around 30€ for DIY version (more info here).

It works great, after few days of getting used to it, it feels natural and I can't drive without it

I sold my track ir. I liked it but I ended up playing without it... and by the way I don't like the idea of move your head and your eyes in opposite direction.

I like the sound of the EDTracker, did you go for the cheaper sensor? How does it perform?

It looks like it's only 3 axis though, is this an issue in game?

VR user (Oculus DK2) here. Not being able to see your keyboard with the headset on is a bit inconvenient. When restarting / pitting / spectating you have to find your keyboard blind and guess where the keys are, or remove the headset itself.

However, during racing a VR headset is way beter in terms of immersion and the ability to look around to see where the other cars are. It really doesn't compare to Track IR, so in my opinion the trade-off is more than worth it.

Most computers today do not have the power of running VR at it's fullest capacities.

Quote from Chopst1x :

I like the sound of the EDTracker, did you go for the cheaper sensor? How does it perform?

It looks like it's only 3 axis though, is this an issue in game?

I got MPU-9150 sensor, think its worth the money, because I read somewhere cheaper sensor tends to drift center axis or something like that. No problems with MPU-9150 so far. Only problem I had was with arduino controller, USB socket broke off from it after few months. It seems to be a little fragile but after fixing usb cable to side of my headphones, so it doesn't move, it's working without problem almost a year.

Yes its 3 axis rotation only ie no panning to sides. I'm using only 2 axis rotation left/right and top/down, rolling head while racing doesn't help with lap times

You can see it in action on some of my videos.

That massive deadzone you use looks quite uncomfortable.

Yes you are right it looks odd in video, I stopped moving head at center, real deadzone is set to around 3 - 4° left/right only to filter small head movements.