Flying in VR: Is it a must? Or still a gimmick?

It wasn't until just around a decade ago that VR started becoming accessible to enthusiasts, and with that came a growing and untapped market for flight simulators that advertised their VR implementations. They boasted the added immersion and unparallel feeling of flight as the main selling points of flying in VR; so, as someone that has been a VR user for over 5 years now, are these statements true? What are the drawbacks of flying in VR?

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FEELING OF FLIGHT

This aspect is, most likely, the truest one of flying in VR. There just is not a better way to feel like you are in a cockpit than seeing it in full 3D right in front of you. All the dials, details and the visibility all intertwine with each other into a feast for your eyes. I have personally flown in VR in around 5 to 6 different titles, from dedicated VR-only games like VTOL VR, to others where VR feels a bit more of an afterthought such as DCS World; and regardless of in which game I have flown in, the immersion is always astonishing.

Flying on flat screens or even curved monitors just does not feel as immersive anymore once you have tasted VR flying, but that also comes with a cost, both monetary and quality-wise.

COMFORT, VISIBILITY AND READABILITY

In terms of comfort, it will depend on your headset and the environmental conditions in your room. For someone like me who has a Quest 2 and lives in a quite humid place, sometimes playing during the day will become quite uncomfortable. The lenses will fog out, and it will be quite difficult to just clear them every couple of minutes. This will stop after a while when the inside of the headset gasket has reached equilibrium with the outside, but that awkward feeling of the fogged lenses will not fade.

Visibility and readability will also greatly depend on your headset. The two main determining factors are your Field of View (FoV) and your internal headset resolution. For example, my Quest 2 has the equivalent of 2K per eye and 97 degrees of horizontal FoV.

So, when you are flying it can feel a bit like looking through binoculars, something that could definitely be improved with higher-end headsets such as the Big Screen Beyond 2, or even the more accessible Quest 3.

USABILITY

Something we take for granted when we fly on desktop is how visible our controls, panels and keyboard are. When you are in VR, you will lose track of what is where, and you will be constantly peaking below your light brick to glance at your peripherals.

There are a couple of ways to mitigate this issue, such as using pass-through features available in a couple of headsets such as the Quest 3, or the more unrealistic one which involves you making a 1:1 replica of a real cockpit. Both options have been tried and both work, with the most impressive one being Warthog Project's 1:1 A-10C cockpit replica that has allowed him to play DCS in a way we all dream we could. His set-up is fully physical, with every single panel functional. Have a gander yourself:

Of course, this is something 99.9% of users would not be able to use, or create, but it is certainly an option that some of us have opted for to solve this problem.

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FINAL THOUGHTS

VR flying is becoming more and more accessible, and the technology has definitely improved. I have my gripes with it, such as the weight and comfort of some headsets, as well as application specific difficulties such as the ones described in the above section. I quite enjoy games such as VTOL VR and even flying within VRChat, but my VR flight time on dedicated simulators has been quite limited because my current set up does not cooperate well with my peripherals in VR. Were I to have a dedicated room for VR or a simrig, I would probably fly a lot more in VR, but, here I am.

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About the Author

Santiago "Cubeboy" Cuberos

Longtime aviation fanatic with particular preference towards military aviation and its history. Said interests date back to the early 2000s, leading into his livelong dive into civil and combat flight simulators. He has been involved in a few communities, but only started being active around the mid 2010s. Joined as a Spanish to English translator in 2017, he has been active as a writer and the co-founder of Skyward ever since. Twitter | Discord: Cubeboy