VR Headset for Sim Racing

[GMac11]

I’m thinking of finally getting into VR, partly because I plan to get rid of my UW monitor and clear some space and mostly because the new F1 title is set to support it.

The whole VR thing is a minefield for me as I have absolutely no experience with it.

All I need/want is a good headset (don’t need audio) for my various racing titles. Ideally something with high refresh and good resolution (no screen door etc).

It’s just difficult to start looking particularly since it seems a few of the earlier models have all now been discontinued.

I don’t really have a budget. That doesn’t necessarily mean I need/want the best of the best, but am prepared to pay what I have to for a good unit.

Any advice/help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[GMac11]

I know it may seem utter madness but I have actually started using my AirPods as my gaming audio. I find them more comfortable than over ear options plus the Dolby Atmos support is pretty good with them - hence why I said audio isn't all that important although I'm absolutely open to suggestions in case my plan is totally silly.

I was thinking about picking up a Quest 2 just because it seems to be on offer at £299 right now - I may well discover that VR isn't for me so it perhaps makes sense to go with the more budget end of things to get started, I don't know.
I can't envisage wireless being important as I will only ever be using it with my Sim Racing Rig anyway so it's highly unlikely I'll be going walkabout with the headset.

 

[GMac11]

Quest 2 is a good choice to put your toe in the water, but for sim racing you'll need a better headstrap, and a decent USB3 cable, which probably bumps up the price another £50+

You can use the Q2 wirelessly playing sims, but it can look blocky due to video compression. It's best in this case to use a USB3 link cable, as you get better visual quality.

Oh, and what is the audio latency like on the Airpods? For VR that's hugely important.

Thanks for that, I think I could try and live with the standard strap for a while - having a little one in the house my sessions rarely last more than an hour at a time anyway
Is there any particular USB3 cable you would recommend?

I have found the latency with the AirPods absolutely fine however it is not something I’m particularly sensitive to (I don’t think). I have used Bluetooth audio for years and I think the over ears I currently have are Bluetooth 4.0 AT BEST so the 5.0 on the AirPods should be better still. Again, as I only play racing titles I’m guessing audio latency isn’t high on the list compared to other genres?

 

[GMac11]

The new pico neo could be of interest to you as well actually, it has a display port, so overcomes the biggest issue with the quest 2 and PCVR, the fact you want it for simming means you avoid potential poor tracking too.

I had a quick Google for it there, is there actually any retail outlets in the UK it can actually be purchased from?

 

[GMac11]

Thanks all. I think I’m going to pop into Argos tomorrow or Wednesday and pick up the Quest 2.
I appreciate I could go used for slightly less but I figure I may as well go somewhere I can return it in case it really just doesn’t work out for me.
I’ll also pick one of these cables up which came recommended on one of the YouTube videos I watched:

KIWI design Link Cable 10 Feet (3 Meters) Compatible with Oculus Quest 2, High Speed Data Transfer USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-C Cable Compatible for Oculus Quest 1 and Quest 2 to a Gaming PC, Black https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08BPDV...i_i_3SE5QCRR66G3N3BGSTJN?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

 

[GMac11]

That should be fine for the cable. Make sure your motherboard has a suitable socket though! Or a proper usb card.

I have an MSI Z-370 A Pro which according to the manual anyway has 3.1 Gen 1 Ports - so that I assume that should be fine?

 

[GMac11]

Well I plan to pick up the Quest 2 today and the cable won’t be arriving until tomorrow so I may just give it a spin over WiFi and see.
The concern is the Mesh network I use which I read somewhere in the product information that mesh WiFi was not recommended - although one of the nodes is hardwired to my PC so it may just be enough to get by? It’s only a Deco M4 mind you which is AC1200, not WiFi6.

 

[GMac11]

If you are going the Quest2 route, I would spend some time learning the ODT (oculus debug tool) to fine tune the settings. It makes the world of difference.

@GMac11 can you list your PC specs and your simracing games, as I should be able to start you off with some basic settings.

Using the cable and a decent GPU you want to be looking at native res through the oculus software (1.7, all the way to the right) and then in the ODT something along the lines of 1.2 (helps with shimmering in the distance like grandstands), ASW disabled, link sharpening on and bitrate set to 300mbs (if you have the cable). Then switch on the performance HUD and check where the performance graph is. You want to be going no lower than the middle of amber ideally. If you are in the red, start by dialing back the fps (72, 80, 90, 120), then the pixels per display to 1.0, then the native res.

Unfortunately even with a 3090, you can't do 1.7 at 120hz with 1.4 SS. Even though I tried it, and it looked absolutely sensational the performance dropped through the floor. That said, you can get something very acceptable, and VR is all about the immersion. It's really quite something hammering an F1 car around silverstone, although my favourite is the Ferrari 488 around red bull ring. Can spend hours doing laps around that track.

C:\Program Files\Oculus\Support\oculus-diagnostics\OculusDebugTool.exe

You need to launch this each and everytime and keep it running whilst you game

Thanks for all that!
Currently running i5 8600k and GTX 1080 (neither are currently overclocked). I do fully intend a rebuild as soon as I can get a 3xxx series card without having to re-mortgage the house.
As for titles, it’s really just Dirt Rally and F1 these days. I dabble in Project Cars now and again.
Perhaps even with these slightly less resource hungry titles I’m being optimistic with my current hardware?

 

[GMac11]

I've just sold my quest2 and ordered a reverb g2 direct from HP. £549 using my works discount (think it's just a link to the education store) and I think they are sending out the V2 upgraded model.

Email says it's coming next week so will report back my findings.

Thanks, will keep an eye out.
Just a quick update, got sidetracked at home for a few days and have since decided to hold off for a little while and not rush into buying just for now. I’m keeping an eye out for a used Quest 2 as was recommended by @ShiWarrior. I got cold feet taking the full plunge just in case it’s not for me.

 

[GMac11]

Hi again all! I apologise for abandoning my own thread temporarily but unfortunately got distracted by work and life!
Anyhow, just this week picked up a used Quest 2 locally for £190. I figured that gave me enough wriggle room to sell it if I don’t get along with it.
Pretty much spend most of this evening trying to get it up and running and got there eventually!
The VR is incredible but man do I feel sick as a dog now.
I went for Project Cars first as it was the only game I had that worked natively - it was good but it’s been so long since I played it I was well out of practice. I then went for Dirt Rally and after much faffing about got it running, that’s when the sickness kicked in after about 30 seconds. The circuits in Projext Cars were ok but the undulations of Rally Wales were just too much for a first attempt.
All in all I’m very impressed. I just need to dial in my settings for better graphics etc and fingers crossed I get used to the motion.

 

[GMac11]

Thanks! Yeah I wasn’t for playing any real length of time anyway, by the time I’d finally got everything up and running I just wanted to see it and satisfy my curiosity. I’ll have another stab at it tomorrow.
As I say, the track racing wasn’t too bad and since my main reason for getting the VR was for the upcoming F1 title hopefully it should be ok.

 

[GMac11]

If you are going the Quest2 route, I would spend some time learning the ODT (oculus debug tool) to fine tune the settings. It makes the world of difference.

@GMac11 can you list your PC specs and your simracing games, as I should be able to start you off with some basic settings.

Using the cable and a decent GPU you want to be looking at native res through the oculus software (1.7, all the way to the right) and then in the ODT something along the lines of 1.2 (helps with shimmering in the distance like grandstands), ASW disabled, link sharpening on and bitrate set to 300mbs (if you have the cable). Then switch on the performance HUD and check where the performance graph is. You want to be going no lower than the middle of amber ideally. If you are in the red, start by dialing back the fps (72, 80, 90, 120), then the pixels per display to 1.0, then the native res.

Unfortunately even with a 3090, you can't do 1.7 at 120hz with 1.4 SS. Even though I tried it, and it looked absolutely sensational the performance dropped through the floor. That said, you can get something very acceptable, and VR is all about the immersion. It's really quite something hammering an F1 car around silverstone, although my favourite is the Ferrari 488 around red bull ring. Can spend hours doing laps around that track.

C:\Program Files\Oculus\Support\oculus-diagnostics\OculusDebugTool.exe

You need to launch this each and everytime and keep it running whilst you game

Thanks for posting this previously, gave me a good starting point for my setup.
In Project Cars I’m only getting around 40fps which is of course far from ideal. Lowering the Oculus s/w to 80hz and 1.3 (I think) and ODT at 1.0 I am able to reach 60fps but this is a peak, at times it will still drop off closer to 40fps.
I’m not averse to lowering the resolution/quality to get higher FPS but the distance shimmering is really off-putting so I can only go so low.
Bearing in mind I’m running a GTX 1080 what should I realistically be aiming for by way of an upgrade to run at say 80-90fps in the highest possible quality? I’m thinking along the lines of a 3070 standard (or ti if needs be). I also don’t mind going AMD but I can’t see anything that out-performs the base 3070, unless I‘m not looking in the right place?
More generally, Also, is there any way to play a game and NOT have it mirror on my monitor? I’m not sure if it causes much of a performance hit but it surely can’t help driving unnecessary pixels?
I’m quite happy with the Quest 2 however I can definitely see now why so many people say get an improved strap, the standard one really isn’t up to scratch - and that’s when seated. I dread to think how they expected it to stay in place while moving!

 

[GMac11]

The shimmering is a pain isn't it. To get rid you need to increase the override which hammers your fps. Even on my 3080Ti I could only go so far. In the end I gave up and bought a pico neo 3 headset which is miles better imho for pc vr. I could really ramp up the settings and still got higher fps. In fact, I'm at 1.5x ultra and sat at 90fps constant. Not a hint of shimmering. That's iracing though, not pcars.

Unfortunately I've had two, both with dead pixels. Not sure if I could try a third one or not.

It's a tricky one this, because VR headsets are only going to get more and more demanding as they bump up the resolution and fov. I'd buy the best gpu you can afford, and have a think about the pico. It's much less demanding, whilst having a much better picture (proper displayport cable). You might be able to reach native 72hz with high enough SS to reduce the shimmering to a level you are happy with. That's a good experience.

Shaders are your enemy, and the first thing to reduce when looking for fps.

This was a solid 90, and I wonder if I can push it even higher

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That Pico Neo looks very interesting indeed - I wish I'd seen that before I bought the Quest!
The shimmering must depend on the game also - for me it's barely noticeable on Dirt Rally.

Finally had a decent run on pCars this evening and I think I'm sold on the VR, definitely have the bug now.

Out of interest (if you're allowed to mention) where did you actually buy your PN3? I've only found one website that appears to be based in Europe. Actually never mind, I found a direct link from a YT video - why it doesn't show up on Google is beyond me.

 

[GMac11]

So I’ve tried a bit of tweaking and what not and I just can’t seem to get either pCars or Dirt Rally to run at any sort of decent frame rate.
Oddly enough pCars is actually maxing out my 8600k CPU (overclocked to 4.8ghz) with my GTX 1080 sitting at around 70% - according to Task Manager anyway.

Dirt Rally runs anywhere between 40-60fps with the drops to 40 very noticeable. But most peculiarly is (again according to TM) neither my CPU nor GPU are under any great strain, usually around 50/60%.
What settings should I be looking at? As I say, I don’t understand how I can’t get DR to run any better considering it doesn’t appear to be maxing out my hardware.

 

[GMac11]

It's not the encoder holding it back is it? Just a shot in the dark

What's the lowest resolution you can go to in Oculus. I'd stick that on lowest at 72 and see how it goes

It won't look great but you need to see what the fps is

Forgive me, but what you mean by the encoder? As in, is there a setting I should be looking at?

Anyhow, I had a good dabble today and I now have pCars sitting between 60-72fps with the very odd drop sub-60 in particularly challenging situations. I currently have the Oculus App at 1.2x, any higher and I’m back into the 40’s. I think what was causing me issues yesterday was mainly the ASW - I set it to ‘Off’ as you recommended but I didn’t realise it defaults to ‘Auto’ every time the app is loaded.
The remainder of the settings are fairly much as you suggested.

I think what’s beating me overall is pCars is just such a demanding game to run. I actually reverted to my monitor and I can barely hit 100fps whereas I can get well over 120fps on F1 2021.

I have a few different options going forward. For not much cost I can upgrade my CPU to the i7 9700k as that’s the highest I can get that will fit my current motherboard. I am also sizing up a RTX 3070 of some description.
The final option, as you pointed out, is the Pico Neo 3. This may still necessitate a 3070 purchase but it should in theory demand less from the system as a whole - so no CPU upgrade required.

 

[GMac11]

Thanks @TheOracle . I picked the Quest up used locally for £190 and had to be quick sharp about it as the guy had plenty of interest so I’ve no doubt I could sell it on again myself and pretty much break even, maybe lose a tenner which I’m more than happy to write off as a learning experience.
There’s a 3070 over on the store for £529 at the moment which seems decent value but as you say, maybe hold out and get a good used one somewhere.

 

[GMac11]

Well Mr glutten for punishment strikes again......I had to didn't I

You know, just to experience one and see what all the fuss is about



First things first, it wasn't as bad as I was expecting. I didn't have any software issues and everything worked really well.

The FOV is something else, and obviously was my main reason for wanting to try it. Damn, it is impressive. Just looking straight ahead, you can see all of the windscreen and both wing mirrors in your peripheral vision. That's really good. It is just like wearing a racing helmet in real life. It adds another dimenions to sim racing, and gave a whole new experience. Racing felt faster, and more true to life. It's really, really good!

That's where the fun ends though, everything else is crap. Clarity, comfort, heat, reflections, colour saturation (or lack of)....they are all quite bad. Oh, and the style of the headset meant I couldn't wear my bose headphones. Urgh!

It's made me confirm yet again that clarity and comfort trumps fov.....but damn, that fov is really good.

Pico still my #1, and after a brief moment of sadness at looking at a much smaller fov, I soon started smiling again.

I'm really hoping that in the future, someone can make a headset which has clarity, comfort and fov. Gonna take some GPU to power it.

Sigh, that fov though!

Crikey!
I might get castigated for saying this but is there not such a thing as too much FOV? I mean, in my own car I have to move my head slightly to see the rear view and passenger wing mirror so I don’t have an issue doing it in-game.
It just goes to show there is still no perfect VR headset yet - everyone seems to have at least one gripe with each model - granted my knowledge of the subject extends to a Quest 2 and that is all.
I had to enquire about Pico Neo 3 as they only ship by default to mainland UK. I sent an email on Sunday and they just came back this morning saying it would be a £20 surcharge to post to NI. I understand some companies have to charge extra but I sell stuff on eBay all the time and I’ve never once paid close to £20 to ship to GB. I’m not ruling it out but I’ll just hold fire for a while - perhaps one will appear on eBay or even the MM .
Furthermore, I’ve since got pCars working adequately even with my 1080. I got it to sit between 60-72 (a little more shimmering than I would like but not the worst). I then stopped using the debug tool and decided to just crack on for a while and enjoy it - which I definitely did!
As my main case is the upcoming F1 game I’m just going to wait for it and see where my system sits with that. If past titles are anything to go by it’s nowhere near as demanding as pCars. So a combination of that and a 3070, if the price is right, might see me through.

 

[GMac11]

To add my 2 cents...
iRacing runs fine on my rig (3090 + 5950x) but out of all sims currently I would say Dirt 2.0 looks and runs the best, but ONLY once you've added the openvr_fsr DLL to the directory. I don't have all settings to max but everything is buttery smooth day/night/raining on my G2 with steam scaling at 100%. Also Dirt 2 VR was one game I specifically upgraded my CPU for back in the day and saw great improvement in framerate.

What CPU are you running, or were you running when you made this upgrade?

 

[GMac11]

So my 3070 arrived and after having to order a cable to connect it to the PSU all appears to be good.
I have to say I haven't noticed a great deal of improvement with regards fps, particularly in pCars, however my headroom has improved - it's at least in positive digits now!
As I've mentioned above, pCars is definitely CPU limited so I wasn't expecting miracles with just the improved GPU - hopefully F1 22 is more GPU intensive.
My only other alternative is to grab a 9700k as that would be a straight swap into my 8600k system. I'm not sure I have the enthusiasm to go searching for, and installing, a new system.