Oculus Rift + Oculus Touch Controller

Coming from someone who's into a bit of gaming, especially PC / Simulation type stuff. I like to sit in the cockpit/driving seat of the vehicle/jet/chopper and have long had experience with 3 generations of TrackIR.

When VR first came onto the scene in a mainstream way, like many, I was put off. The lack of support in games, clunky hardware, glitchy graphics and poor performance. This view of mine didn't change much until the last 12 months... Sure I had tried the mobile phone (samsungVR) headset, after a certain phone company messed up, and charged £0.00 for samsung VR with delivery at £0.00 and for whatever reason they fullfiled their error and hundreds of thousands of headsets were sent out, without a penny being charged, for people, who like me, weren't even with that phone company... someone was no doubt without a job after that debacle.

So that's the scene, I have a couple VR games I already liked, and just played the regular, monitor + trackIR way. A couple people I knew from teamplay were talking over comms radio how this "totally blew trackIR out the water, completely different"... and believe me, I thought trackIR was good, which it is.... So i asked a few questions and a pay day later, this was in the post from amazon.

Upon opening the box and opening the manual, the setup is carried out over a website. This is not something I've experienced before.. ever. Sure i've had setups that download files from a website, but never the website itself. It said it would take about 30-60 minutes to setup. Having a fast internet connection this was much quicker for me, but I can see 3-4GB taking some people that long, sure... You follow the setup, plug the goggles into the GPU using a regular HDMI cable, plug the other cable into a USB 3 port (might or might NOT work with the USB2 - DO CHECK) and then finally the sensor also went into a USB 3 port.

Setup was painless, I position my sensor where my left speaker was, and moved the speaker a few inches further over to the left. The thing is amazingly accurate and responsive. This was, without doubt, for me the most impressive thing about this. Sure the details on the "mini screen" which appears massive to you, in 3D, is good, it's not perfect, but it's very good. Thankfully, if there is anything that is too small to see/read properly (good example - small text in a cockpit, say the exhaust gas temperature figures as the dials whirl up) all you need to do is simply lean forwards a little bit, towards the gauge as you see it, and suddenly it's bigger - because your "head" is closer to the "dials" in the virtual reality space...

So here's where it gets interesting for me, and for you if you get one, and for anyone else who you've ever seen a video of on youtube, try these out. The images for your left eye, and right eye are slightly off identical, and this tricks your brain into thinking you are looking at a 3D object. As you read this text on your phone, tablet, laptop or monitor, your left eye is seeing the screen at a slightly different angle than your right eye, maybe it is only half a degree off, maybe it's 15 degrees off, all depends on how big the object is, and how far away it is. Sounds boring and obvious, but this is where the magic happens, because the VR game you play, more importantly the graphics card coding, knows this too - therefore the closer it wants to make something appear to you, the further away it adjusts the image, and it works REALLY well... As I sat there, for the first time, in "my cockpit" of "my jet fighter" - I was really there. I have a throttle, pedals & joystick setup already, and so I was there. The sound on these things is good too, and also recreated in 3D (turn left, the engines are louder from the left, because your left ear is closer, and pointing towards the jets, and vice-versa).

You move your head side to side, and your head is moving within the glass cockpit, reflections on the canopy, as well as the shadows of all the little dials, and every bolt holding the canopy to the frame is 3D - as is every button and switch.... You just wanna reach out and press 'em all, but allas the HOTAS setup must do, as it's only virtual. Once flying, just wow. There is no other words. I have flown back in my air cadet days, all be it not in jet fighters, but I flew enough to go solo various times and this is without any shadow of a doubt, the next best and closest thing you can get to, short of spending a few million on a full motion simulator.

Dog fights gives a huge advantage because, a bit like trackIR, you can just "watch" the enemy as s/he whizzes by, and you never lose situational awareness because of this. If they have one too, great, if you dont.... big disadvantage, because losing track of where the enemy is when in close combat is leathal, no radar or missiles will help you if you can't even vaguely point into the direction of the enemy, and if you are able to track your enemy visually the whole time, it is much easier to get on his six and finish them.

Flying the helicopter was equally as fun and enjoyable, immersive and all the rest of it, and it really helps in landing in tight spots, between and in small spaces, trees or back of a boat.... So we've all seen the videos where Dad tries the goggles for the first time, and a giant dinosar or whatever comes and it's freaky but funny all at the same time for him, but you can't help trying to "block" the monster with your arms, well, again, not my cup of tea, but I know where he's coming from. When I got shot down in the chopper, my main rotor came off, and I was going down, no two ways about it, nothing I could do, the option of auto rotation went along with the rotor... seeing the ground rush up at you, yes you know your just sat there, and no, there are no excessive G forces one way or the other, but seeing that ground rush up at you like that... gives you a slight idea, at least visually, with sound, enough so, I have been heard saying "oh gosh!" or words to that effect out loud as I go down. It is quite a something that can only be experienced with goggles on, as they all say, and for obvious reasons.

All in all, bottom line, I am very happy to have purchased these, and with the controllers, which I haven't yet used, simply because I am a sim guy, but bought the controllers to open up my options in the future, should I wish. I don't have all the time in the world to play games, and so to have these to make the most of it, amazing. Is it worth the £500 -£600 or so? If you're into gaming more than 6-8 hours a week, and have a reasonably good, modern gaming PC, then this is easily the best purchase you can make, short of a good joystick or steering wheel first... typing is out the window with these on, so have your teamspeak or touch typing skills ready! The built in headphones and mic are VERY good, i was pleasently surprised I have to say, the bass and rumble from them is not bad at all, I was expecting a minimal token experience, but no, they aren't bad, although a full size dre headphones quality sound is obviously better.

I thought I might get a headache or motion sickness, as I'm not physically moving, and I do get headaches from the mobile phone VR very quickly, but I am very happy to report, that gaming for an hour at a time with these, I have no headache at all. For me 1 hour is enough, a day, and even then I don't always have time. I wouldn't want to use them for much more even if I did have the time, because it is very easy to "get lost" with these, and before you know it, the real world goes by as you stand still in a pretend world... As with anything, moderation, and boy, what way to unwind after a stressful day and have a blast while your at it. You will never get closer to firing a missile from 30,000ft and the irony is, that goes for over 99% of the royal air force personnel as well.

Thank you Oculus for a good product, good price, good quality, and good fun.

I picked this up for the offer price of £399.99 and have to say to date it's provided some really fantastic stand out moments.

It's also great to see others enjoy the experience as well, it really does put you into the environment and peoples first experience always creates a good laugh.

If you have the PC to run it then def go out and get one. The graphics are really good and games like Robo Recall really are amazing. I actually like the tech demo that you first run it gives you some good environments to test.

The bundled software and the amount of free content is good so you can get by for a while without spending out loads. The touch controllers are great as well and easy to set up. When I got mine I got the full content headset with wireless Xbox one controller and the touch came separate as well so think I got good value. I didn't purchase from Amazon this time as they didn't have the stock at £399.99 which surprised me as normally Amazon are on the ball and my first go to place to buy things.

The headset can take some adjusting and would say it can get a little hot at times but the overall experience is 10/10 - Looking forward to seeing more apps and games.

Bought this due to the Summer Bundle offer

The Touch Controller arrived 2 days before the Rift, and whilst the controllers were brand new, the Rift was a second hand return with a damaged Xbox controller receiver, The model number of the rift doesn't match the model on the box which is a concern, but it appears to work and apart from dust on the lenses Iv'e had no issue with it, and Customer Service has refunded 10% which covers the cost of replacing the Wireless adapter. It's better than playing the return lottery as there was confusion about stock levels and such.

Aside from Amazons shenanigans the Rift is an amazing to play on. Setup was straightforward, download an installer, let it complete and then follow the guide, setup takes you through connecting the controllers, remote and if it had not been broken with my order the Xbox controller. Then follow the guide for setting up the sensor area, then your ready for a interactive guide showing you how to use the touch controls and then gives various little small demos of what you can do and how you can interact with objects (Picking up empty cans and throwing them across the room and listening to them bounce and clink).

Downsides are its not very user friendly if you wear glasses, quite a pain in the rear to get them in comfortably, and you got to be very careful not to damage the lenses. There is a small gap beneath the headset which doesn't fit snugly for me so If i look directly down I can see the floor.

All in all, it is what I expected it to be and is enjoyable, I already have a computer well set for VR so I have not had any performance issues as of yet, I am happy with the rift, just not to happy with being sold used as new.

Wonderful the immersion is excellent, feels like you're really there also the graphics are great too, I've seen a few people say the blue outlines you see sometimes are a negative but if you adjust your headset properly you can't notice it while playing, well worth £399. The touch controllers also take the immersion to a whole new level would easily recommend.

Possibly the best gadget I've ever owned. I paid full price back in 2016 and I dont regret it at all. Since getting the oculus I have barely touched 'flat' games, as the just don't compare. Join us... You won't be disappointed.

I am 39 years old, and I do not think I have ever loved a toy as much as I love this toy. I had to but a PC especially to power it too. I have now owned it 4 months, and play it every day that I am at home.

The future is here.and now affordable still blows my mind daily after owning a year