One thing is holding me back from buying the Vive (edit: actually a few)

MrKeeno

MrKeeno

MrKeeno

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Hi All,

I am sure almost everyone that has purchased VR has gone through the same dilemma that I have. Which VR headset to buy??

I am strongly leaning towards the Vive atm. This is mainly due to room scale, forward facing camera + the controllers. I know the Rift will have these at some stage in the near future but after a bit of research it isn't clear how well it will handle room scale and I hate the idea of a forward cam bolted on somewhere.

Even just writing that down has made me realize something, the room I will be using this in is pretty limited so the possible problems with Rift and larger room tracking will not really apply to me. Arghhhhh :)

But, and its a big but, I like space sims a lot and there is quite a lot of talk about poorer performance on the Rift, text not clear and so on. That is really putting me off. Whenever I have thought about VR I always imagine its application in scifi/futuristic games, so I really do not want to compromise on quality here.

Also, can someone tell me where the Rift is shipped from? I've went as far as the buy button on the Oculos site but its not clear if there will be any import duties/tax to be paid when it enters the country.

Sorry for the rambling post. I am hoping someone can help me make a decision.

Cheers
 
Even before you buy a hmd you would need to upgrade that 6950, i have a 980ti and that struggles sometimes. Imho you need vr controllers, using your hands in vr just makes it feel real. Had my vive for 2 weeks and iam glad i didn't go for a rift.
 
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Just received this on the official Oculus forum:

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Hi. I ordered mine and then got an email later saying it would be delivered the next week (or something like that). Just before it arrived they took the money out, £499 and £30 delivery. It actually came from Ireland as I was worried about the import duties.
Also, because of this worry, I wasn't sure how much it would be and so I didn't order straight away as I was saving my money up so that it would hopefully be covered. because I waited, I missed out on getting Valkyrie free with it so I was annoyed about that.

As you say, they don't make it clear how much in total it will be, but I live in Manchester and it cost me the above amount. Hope this helps you to stop worrying.

************************************

So at least that clears up the pricing aspect of it.
 
Being able to walk and move around with the Vive is what gives me the whole sense of presence – that puts it an order of magnitude ahead of the Rift – for me personally.

Also, I can’t imagine VR without the controllers – they work so well, like when they become guns, or whatever. Seeing them exactly where they should be just works.
 
Rezident said:
Being able to walk and move around with the Vive is what gives me the whole sense of presence – that puts it an order of magnitude ahead of the Rift – for me personally.

Also, I can’t imagine VR without the controllers – they work so well, like when they become guns, or whatever. Seeing them exactly where they should be just works.
Click to expand...

In raw data when they look like real hands is a bit freaky, although after a few minutes you forget that they arnt your hands.
 
I ended up finding a Rift for sale locally so went for that, quite a few games in his account that he gave to me too. If I dont get on with it I can sell it and not make any loss + it was a good bit cheaper than the Vive.

1st impressions are that this could be really something special in the future, its pretty special now but its let down a bit by the visuals imo. I can clearly see pixelation + ghosting, I am not too bothered by either as I knew what I was getting into when I bought it. I'm glad I went for the rift as when playing Elite I do not think I could have hacked the poorer performance that comes with the vive, on the rift it's just about bearable for me.

The launch games are pretty poor, Lucky's Tale is a great little game however I am long past cartoony graphics/gameplay. Eve Valkyrie is impressive but also lacks any real depth, its basically an arcade shooter, which is fine. Its pretty cool with the head tracking and so on and the potential for space sims is unreal (just not this gen I feel)

The rift is also pretty hard on my eyes, my eyes feel like they really need a good rest after even a short play session. I'm long overdue an eye test so maybe that isn't helping either.

Overall if you have £500 for the rift or £700 for the Vive I wouldn't recommend stumping up the cash for either at the minute. Everything is either a demo or feels like an extended demo, the games for now just have no longevity (apart from elite). Also if you are coming from a decent display you are going to see a big difference, you will see pixels very easily which is pretty annoying.

I think the next gen VR is where it will be at, once the resolution is upped and a few other things are sorted the possibilities are endless.
 
Have you set your ipd correctly? I can play the vive for hours and not get eye strain. Supersampling literally looked like the vive had twice the resolution when i enabled it.
 
As a former DK2 and now Vive owner, I wouldn't even consider the OR CV1 until I could get it with the Touch controllers.

If the touch controllers were available now, it'd be a tough decision, but at the moment, the only way is Vive.
 
Well I decided to take it back, the guy I bought it from kindly said if there was any issues to give him a shout. I tried to give him a few quid for the trouble but he wouldn't take it, not too many about like that these days.

As for my time with the rift, I tried upping the supersampling, the difference when increased to 2.0 was immense however not practical with my GTX 980 as the fps was dropping to around 40 on games like elite/eve. Even at 1.5 it was pretty sore on my card and still dropped the fps too much.

So I am back leaning towards the Vive, the rift is excellent but elite just isn't a good enough game to keep me in a seat for hours at a time, same with eve, its good but i'd say an hour tops on that before it gets pretty boring. I know i'll maybe have the same graphical issues with the vive but at least i'll get the full VR experience.
 
Right, as an owner for both I can tell you that the controllers are frickin' amazing.

BUT for anyone saying you "NEED" to buy the Vive because of the controllers is missing an important point - the Rift screen is better for seated experiences.

I've done many write up on my thoughts on both as a long time investor in the technology (and recently a new job with a massive VR focus).

With the Oculus Touch controllers just around the corner I'd maybe advise holding off if you've not bitten the bullet already as I'd hope that buying as a pair would get you a discount - although saying that the inability for Oculus to deliver the headset in a timely fashion could put your waiting time even greater so it's hard to say for sure.

Your research into room scale for the Rift has obviously been tainted with the wild speculation that's out there but I can tell you with 100% certainty that the fact that the Oculus Touch ships with a second camera resolves any issue a single camera system would have. The ONLY concession you'll have to make it the probability of having to buy a USB extension to plug the camera in the opposite side of the room to match the setup of the Vive.

Others have suggested that because Oculus is encouraging developers to focus on "forward facing" Touch experiences that this means it "can't" be used for 360degree roomscale, but the truth is that Steam VR explicitly supports the Oculus Touch and in turn means that any game made for the HTC Vive will work exactly as intended with the Oculus Touch.

The Vive's front facing camera is actually something you don't use that much. You can't play VR in a room that's full of crap so "turning it on to move something out the way" isn't something you should be doing - it should be gone before you start.

Additionally people saying "but you could take a drink!" are missing the fact that you can't because of the bulbus headset in front of your face (unless you use a straw... but christ, just take the thing off)

Comfort is as important as anything else when it comes to VR headsets and here the Rift wins out. Not only because it's more comfortable for longer sessions (like over 30 minutes) but the built in headphones also make using the thing a dam sight easier.

This plays into one of the benefits with the Rift is being able to put on and take off the Rift with one hand - something that you'll admittedly do more of without the option to flick on a camera (which coincidentally can take about 2 or 3 seconds to come on...)

All that said... I play with the Vive the most... :)

Maybe it's because I've used the Rift (since DK1 days) for about 4 years and the novelty of the hand controllers is new to me.

However, when I sit down to play DCS, Eve, Elite, Project Cars, Dirt Rally or any other seated experience I pick up the Rift - as it offers the least compromises.

Will I use the Oculus Touch more when it comes out? Probably, because it will have all the shiny new stuff! (and the controllers genuinely look like the better device as well!)
 
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