Oculus Quest Will Let You Use Your Hands As Controllers Starting This Week

Last year Oculus added hand-tracking support to its standalone VR headset, the Oculus Quest. While it was initially released as an experimental feature, it will be released to all users at the end of this month.

Hand-tracking support on the Oculus Quest requires no new peripherals or setup. The feature uses the same built-in cameras and sensors to detect both of your hands and individual finger motion, giving you an alternative input option to the included Oculus Touch controllers.

Apps and games need to be updated with this support in mind, which is why Oculus initially released the features as an experimental one. In a blog post announcing the move to a full release, Oculus highlighted three games (Elixir, The Curious Tale of Stolen Pets, and Waltz of the Wizard) that will make use of hand-tracking when the feature releases with a Oculus software update this week. Oculus also stated that it will begin accepting third-party titles with hand-tracking support on the Oculus Store from May 28.

Hand-tracking is just one post-launch feature that Oculus has added to the Oculus Quest for free. Oculus Link allows you to connect your Quest to your PC for more demanding VR titles, like Half-Life: Alyx. It makes the Oculus Quest one of the best VR headsets available today, but it has some strong competition in our best VR headset recommendations.