VR vs 4K

Calo · 1 Aug 2018 at 13:53

Question: Is traditional gaming at 4K competing with VR?

To elaborate, I was dead set on getting a VR setup this year, have used a Vive and Rift, but when looking at the cost required, I decided to ditch the VR plans for the next few years and put together a 4K gaming setup as the cost from scratch for both was very similar.

VR just doesn't cut it for me at its current resolution & controls. Do you think this will be on peoples minds for years to come?

People may just get an Oculus Go for the novelty, for example.

ArmitageShanks · 1 Aug 2018 at 14:10

4K is just yet another revision of 2D gaming, and isn't even ultrawide yet. VR is a different experience. If I had to choose between playing pCars2 on my ultrawide 1440p monitor or my low resolution Vive, I'd choose the Vive every time.

Oculus Go isn't really proper VR in my book due to lack of 6dof.

Wrinkly · 1 Aug 2018 at 14:16

Can't beat the Touch controllers that are available for the Rift. Super sampling with a decent graphics card sorts out the low resolution for me, a good test area is the clock in Robo Recall. I taught my self to code on a ZX-81, so perhaps I got used to not peering at every pixel, instead I take in the scene as a whole.

1440p or ultra wide is generally a better choice than 4k due to available GPUs, though it depends on what you play. No matter what resolution you go for though, pancake will never compete with VR as they are totally different experiences.

deuse · 1 Aug 2018 at 14:29

Calo said:
Question: Is traditional gaming at 4K competing with VR?

To elaborate, I was dead set on getting a VR setup this year, have used a Vive and Rift, but when looking at the cost required, I decided to ditch the VR plans for the next few years and put together a 4K gaming setup as the cost from scratch for both was very similar.

VR just doesn't cut it for me at its current resolution & controls. Do you think this will be on peoples minds for years to come?

People may just get an Oculus Go for the novelty, for example.

A 1080TI can't do 4k with high settings and they are north of £650. Then you need a 8700K\9000K cpu. Plus 32GB of DDR4 memory.

If you got all that for the price of a vive, send me the links and I will buy them asap.

melmac · 1 Aug 2018 at 15:04

Nope, because traditional gaming at 4K is still traditional gaming only at a higher resolution. Gaming is just better in VR.

It's a shame you couldn't get past the resolution, for me, I get so absorbed in the game that I don't even notice. I find it very hard to get into 2D gaming after playing a VR game.

Given a choice I would get a VR headset over 4K any day of the week.

Born2BSlow · 1 Aug 2018 at 15:30

The only time I even think about the resolution is when I take a rest and watch a replay on the monitor, and that's just @1080p so it must be a huge difference @4k.
However, playing a game?, I'm usually having so much fun, concentrating so hard or I'm so terrified that I don't even think about it. I find the immersion is amazing. If a flat screen with lots of pretty pixels floats your boat then good for you, enjoy it. I just can't go back to it now, literally feels flat. As mentioned above if you can do a full 4K setup with a decent sized screen for the same price as Vive/Rift VR setup (excluding Vive Pro) then I'd like to see that pricing...a decent 4K monitor is what, about 50% more than the Vive/Rift? I don't know about PC specs but even if similar then that would make 4K more expensive...

dirty · 1 Aug 2018 at 15:32

Until they make a Vive XL for those of us with heads like paving slabs, I'll stick to 4K.

Rusko187 · 1 Aug 2018 at 15:46

I'm of the mindset that 4k doesn't necessarily make a giant leap forward for a "new" and "fresh" experience whereby I feel VR would give that. I run ultrawide at 1080p with 144hz and have a Rift to play with very soon, I feel I'd probably get that new and fresh experience with VR. This I think is a personal preference, I don't see VR as a gimmick nor 4k but if you don't see any VR games that draw you in then I'd say look at 4k and in time move to VR.

Zeeflyboy · 1 Aug 2018 at 16:13

I have a 4k screen and a VR headset... still enjoy gaming in VR more than on the 4k screen

I would love higher resolution in VR, but the overall experience still comes up trumps for me personally. Can't wait to see the true next gen of headsets!

Calo · 1 Aug 2018 at 16:18

deuse said:
A 1080TI can't do 4k with high settings and they are north of £650. Then you need a 8700K\9000K cpu. Plus 32GB of DDR4 memory.

If you got all that for the price of a vive, send me the links and I will buy them asap.

You're right for a Vive, but i should probably clarify, it was the Vive Pro i had in the basket, but couldn't bring myself to pull the trigger knowing it was just an incremental res increase with VR 2.0 maybe just two years away with resolutions and FOV that will really blow me away. Yes im going on reviews of people i trust in the industry and havnt used one myself, which who knows, maybe would have won me over. But thats the point really, is the price just too much and makes people think "I could have XYZ instead for this"?

I wouldn't agree that you need 32GB RAM and an i7 8700K for 4K. Not thinking of crazy high frame rates of course, but at least 60.

I will miss BeatSaber for now though.

NovaKill4 · 2 Aug 2018 at 10:12

I have a 4k monitor and a Rift and honestly, I don't think 4k is worth it. 1080ti's do a good job running a 4k monitor but can struggle with some games when the settings are cranked all the way up. And even when you are running at 4k and all the settings are on ultra, most games wont look that much better because the textures they use are not 4k. For gaming i would suggest sticking at 1440p @ 144hz.

VR on the other hand, is a whole different experience. It brings a whole new way of playing and i love it, i have spent hours on Robo Recall and will probably be getting Fallout VR soon. I have not played many VR titles but the ones i have played i have really enjoyed. The resolution is not quite there yet and can affect the immersion at times if you are struggling to read something but if a game has been designed for VR then this is usually not a problem. The only thing i have found so far is I am struggling to find a game i can sink hundreds of hours into, like i do with normal games. Fallout VR and Skyrim look good but i have already put hundreds of hours into the standard versions but i am going to give fallout a go, but there is a lack of AAA titles. I am now looking at Elite Dangerous and DCS with a HOTAS setup in the hopes i can get into one of them.

If you do decide to get VR i would recommend the Rift, its very comfortable and the touch controllers are fantastic. And at £400 its a third the price of Vive Pro which would be a marginal upgrade.

andybird123 · 2 Aug 2018 at 10:22

I have a Vive and haven't played a flat screen game in about a year. Between Onward and Dirt Rally I find myself just not being compelled to go back to any of the flat screen games.
The vive pro is a waste of money at this point as the difference between the OG Vive and the Pro is minimal. I have also backed the Pimax 8K-X as that will represent an actual upgrade and I can re-use my basestations and controllers.

I had a 4K monitor but also tried 1440@144 and sold off my 4K straight away. I had been considering a high refresh 4K at some point, but with the announcement of things like the pimax 8k I can't really see me going back to flat screen games enough to make it worth it.

Calo · 2 Aug 2018 at 10:47

Heheh, the more i hear people saying they wont go back to flat screen gaming after using VR, the more i can start to believe the film Ready Player One may actually become reality!

Born2BSlow · 2 Aug 2018 at 10:58

It has to be said, VR is a benefit in First Person games, space/flight/driving cockpit based sims, although you can probably use it for 3rd person and chase camera versions it wouldn't be as good. Stuff like LOL is probably not a good use of the technology. It's not just about visual quality, I tried Lucky's Tale which is a side (multi directional actually) scrolling platformer and it made me feel very queasy...completely disoriented. The top tip is in the name, if it's immersion in an alternate (virtual) reality i.e. as if you are really there, you can't beat VR despite the visual limitations of the current hardware.

NovaKill4 · 2 Aug 2018 at 11:04

We are probably not that far off tbh, omnidirectional treadmills are a thing, i know you can get vests to give feedback, gloves and full body suits are in development. Once all this becomes affordable it will probably take over traditional gaming.

NZXT30 · 2 Aug 2018 at 11:50

Both obviously.

melmac · 2 Aug 2018 at 13:23

Calo said:
Heheh, the more i hear people saying they wont go back to flat screen gaming after using VR, the more i can start to believe the film Ready Player One may actually become reality!

As an example of this, I loved the NBA 2K games, bought them every year, until I got the touch controllers and Virtual sports and started playing basketball on that. Yeah, it's clunky and all that, but, I couldn't go back playing NBA 2K afterwards. It felt flat lol excuse the pun. I was in the game, not looking on from the side.

SupraWez · 2 Aug 2018 at 14:04

Given the options of HD, UltraWide, 4K or VR for gaming I would always pick VR

FlyingScotsman · 2 Aug 2018 at 16:34

Fastlane88 said:
Hot dog vs hamburger

FlyingScotsman · 2 Aug 2018 at 16:35

Got both but would never play PCars2 or Dirt Rally on 4K again, VR all the way.