Star Citizen VR
Today was the second time I attempted SC in VR using the application Virtual Desktop. This isn't a "true" VR application like VorpX is, instead it allows you to view your games on a giant screen. It doesn't sound like much, but it's incredibly immersive and the sense of scale is real. The ships feel huge now! All of them! Even the little Aurora doesn't feel so little when your using a VR headset.
Using the HMD plus Virtual Desktop allowed me to really immersive myself into the game. It's an experience like none I've ever had. I've played multiple made-for-VR games since I've gotten my headset, and I swear that I have never felt more immersed then when I entered the SC universe. It felt so real. At one point, I've even achieved presence. This is something I've never done in any other VR game until this point, and what blows my mind is that a.) I'm not having an "real" VR experience (no character head tracking) and b.) SC is still poorly optimized. Once CIG implements native VR support and the server-sided issues are fixed, I can only begin to imagine how immersive SC will be then.
Walking up to the Hornet in VR for the first time felt strange. I had never noticed just how large this ship is. On a monitor, it looks so tiny. After starting up the engines, I carefully maneuvered around (I don't remember being this cautious before) and promptly warped to a Comm Array. I fought a pirate, and gasped at the wonderfully detailed explosion he turned into. The details and the scale of the Comm Array were really highlighted in VR. Even using the computer and hearing the array boot up brought out a sense of awe.
Of course, I was killed by a fellow player not too long after.
Afterwards, I warped to a location whose name I did not recognize. Some asteroid belt with a transmitter. I don't want to go into many details as to avoid spoiling the story-line, but this is where I had felt presence. I navigated over to the asteroid where the transmitter was hidden behind and EVA'd out of my Aurora (didn't want to wait for the Hornet). Everything about this situation felt ominous. As I approached the transmitter, everything hidden in the darkness of the asteroid's shadow, it began to play a message. I stood there, the sun hidden behind this 'roid, ships fighting in the background, various asteroids scattered all over, as this eerie message was being played back to me. For a brief moment of time, I was no longer "playing" Star Citizen. I was living it. The awesome feeling of presence washed over me, and I got goosebumps all over. It didn't last very long. The moment I turned my head to look back at my ship, I got a face full of empty screen (Virtual Desktop, remember) and it was over. If this was native support or VorpX I know that feeling could have lasted much longer.
In all the years that I've played video games, in all the experiences I've ever had with technology and various simulators, in all the VR games I've played NOTHING has ever came this close to actually feeling lifelike. I really don't have the words to describe it, and I really feel that this post is inadequate in sharing my experience. All that I can say is that SC in VR is going to be a lifelong dream come true. If I was able to achieve this level of presence in a game that didn't even track head movement (yet) and is poorly optimized with a low framerate, I know that it's going to be possible to achieve presence when it has native support.
I ended the session chilling in the Hangar gawking over my Reliant. I can't wait until I can take her out. In VR.
Josh Kbosh
VR Headset Review Website
VRHEADsetReVIEW
