[mdip]

First, thanks for the info -- you answered my question, too. :)

  > VR is in my opinion absolutely groundbreaking in flight simulation.

I completely agree. I'm not a pilot nor interested in becoming one. My Dad owned his company and flew a plane for work[0]. He used the 1980s version of Flight Simulator to get licensed for IFR flying. I was impressed with the latest, but if there ever was a use for VR, it's this. You've got a panel full of instruments in front of you and an array of windows to look out of. At least half of the "controlling" in that game involves looking at specific places/in specific directions. Everything would be much more natural if I could control what I was looking at by ... moving my head.

So far I've held off on buying any VR-related non-sense because I have yet to find something that it would improve the experience of enough to warrant spending money on. It sounds like this might be getting me closer?

[0] I've written at length about this in the past, but he owned his company and sold to manufacturing plants. Many were out-of-state, so the plane allowed him to get to a few appointments and back home without a hotel stay -- or ... "gave him an excuse to own a plane". You pick :)

[dwringer]

Have you tried something like a TrackIR? It gives you the ability to do what you describe in a cockpit, as well as using your head to fix your eyes on a point of the horizon/landscape/object during maneuvers. I haven't tried a flight simulator with a VR headset, but TrackIR increases immersion so much that I never felt like I was missing the experience.

Admittedly it can take some tweaking to get the response curves calibrated to what feels natural, and it never feels as natural as simply looking around (but I'd argue putting on a headset comes with ergonomic issues of its own).

[meheleventyone]

TrackIR doesn’t really compare. I went from TrackIR to VR for multiplayer IL2 and the difference is stratospheric in terms of actually feeling “in” the aircraft. It also significantly improved my gunnery.

[leobg]

What headset do you use or recommend? Thx

[meheleventyone]

I use an OG Quest which is quite low res compared to other headsets. Most seem to recommend the Reverb G2 which is what I’m eyeing as an upgrade.

[GekkePrutser]

If you think TrackIR increases immersion that much you really need to try a VR headset and get your mind blown :)

The 3D vision (a horizon never looks the same on a screen), full 6DOF tracking (you can look over your shoulder, bend down etc), motion controllers with which you can turn buttons.. It feels so real.

Even the way you look out the window to see if it's time for the turn to base, it just looks like how it looks when you do it in a real airplane. Seeing it on a flat screen is really not the same.