Has a VR game ever give you presence?

To all the VR people here I'm just curious has a VR game or non game ever give you presence? meaning it felt like you where really there even if it's just for a second?

For me I got pretty close to that feeling I don't remember name of the game but it was puzzle physics game demo I play a few years ago on my Oculus Rift. I never get motion sickness at all but there was a part in this demo where I remember looking down this hole and feeling like I was going to fall in I could feel my knees get weak I remember it was such a crazy sensation VR tricked my brain which was pretty cool.

Yeah, flight sims do this.

The added depth perception, something you don't get with a flat screen, really helps. There's also the viewing, where if you turn your head your in-game characters turn the head.

It's really immersive with games like DCS World where you can interact with just about everything in the cockpit since they are "study sims" and essentially 99% modeled realistically.

I get vertigo from it, your brain essentially responds the same in VR as it does if you were realistically looking down thousands of feet because it doesn't know the difference, and honestly it's the next best thing to actually flying the plane which is something that will never happen.

That's awesome I remember messing around with DCS world cockpit view in VR really add to the immersion alot. There's this demo called Aircar that has you flying in this cyberpunk world it's really cool the way the rain falls on the side of your windows gives a sense of presence it's also super relaxing I high recommend it if you never have tried it.

@warmblur: To be honest, most VR games do this for me. That's really the strength of VR, but the ones that end up being the most immersive are probably the ones with the most interactive environments (and obviously 6DOF control, but that's pretty much the standard). Half Life: Alyx has some amazingly detailed environments and the physics interaction is extremely well done but most VR games do a pretty good job of making you feel like you're actually there.

Aircar is cute and is actually one of the earliest VR games. If I remember correctly, the earliest versions of it were around in the days of the Oculus Dev Kit 2 (DK2). Obviously it's emulating Blade Runner pretty hardcore, but there's another game coming out at some point called LoFi (by the guy who did Technolust) that lets you explore a cyberpunk city in a flying car.

Even early and simpler games like Dreadhalls do a really good job of making the environment feel real. I remember turning my head one time in those claustrophobic dungeons and when a wall was closer to my face than I realized I instinctively flinched because my brain said "YOU'RE GOING TO BONK YOUR HEAD!" I've been playing VR games for 8 years and I -still- can have reactions like that because the effect is so good.

@byshop: Yep, agree with all that.

Alyx really nailed the controls well. Basically, if you thought you could do it in the game, you generally could (with some exceptions, of course). Plenty of games have cute moments where you can pick up something and draw on a board, but in Alyx you essentially did pick up something and draw on the glass. It seems simple and when explained like that it doesn't seem impressive, but the 1:1 movement and the elegance of the controls and interactivity is simply stunning when experienced.

Aircar was cool, it was a neat demo basically, not a fully-fledged game. But as with most things, the quality of something can be determined by the quality of their simplest, most basic aspects; an aircar sim with simple controls done well is really quite impressive in VR.

Before my Index I had an Oculus (version 1 I think). Aircar and Robo Recall were the first two games I played and they were both eye openers. It was all gravy from that point onward.

How's the screen door effect on the Index? because as awesome as the original Oculus Rift was the SDE effect really destroyed the immersion at times. I haven't touch my headset in a year I'm kinda waiting for the right headset to come along with a decent price and zero screendoor effect.

@warmblur: The screen door effect is virtually non-existent. That--along with the awesome controllers and high refresh rates--are the main reasons I got the Index over something else. For example with DCS World you really need to be able to read symbols, font, and lettering on the cockpit and I could barely do that with the Oculus due to screen door; not a problem with the Index.

Valve hardware is also very well built and they have great customer service. One of my stations was DOE and t hey got me a new one in like three days, didn't even wait for the broken one to ship.

I wouldn't call the Index a second gen VR system, but it is definitely a 1.5 gen system.

@mrbojangles25:There were a handful of those early VR demos and experiences from the early days of VR. Before 6DOF control was the standard and even back when the VR headset showed up to Windows as another monitor (extended display vs direct). Aircar, Dreadhalls, Crashland, a few rollercoaster games, and a few spooky-type horror games were among them, and a lot of the better ones eventually got ported over to the Oculus and SteamVR platforms once the headsets got closer to consumer launch. It was pretty cool following the evolution of this tech from the beginning and it has come a remarkably long way.

@warmblur: The Index is great, overall. I have (and have had) a lot of VR headsets over the years including:

• Oculus Go
• Gear VR
• Oculus DK2
• Oculus CV1 (first consumer model)
• Vive
• Vive Pro
• HP Reverb
• HP Reverb G2 (first version)
• Oculus Quest
• Oculus Quest 2
• Cosmos Elite
• Valve Index

Of those, I got rid of the Gear VR (phones stopped supporting it after Samsung had their exploding battery concerns with the Note 7), the DK2, the CV1, the Vive, the Reverb, and the Quest. I still have the Vive Pro, Reverb G2, Quest 2, Cosmos, and the Index. I run the Vive Pro, Quest 2, and Cosmos Elite wirelessly from the PC.

I bought the Index on a whim because I was already buying the Index controllers and 2.0 base stations. I had the Vive Pro, CV1, and I think the Reverb 1 at the time so it seemed excessive, but the price difference between the parts I wanted and the full kit was only a few hundred more so I went ahead and bought the bundle, but when I actually tried the Index is rapidly became my favorite HMD. The FOV, resolution, and refresh rate increase were significant. It was also light, and comfortable, had great audio and even a solid microphone. It was the best overall HMD in my opinion, and while it's still very good in several of these categories the resolution is a little low by modern standards and they never came out with a wireless option for it.

This goes back to my biggest gripe with VR in general. There's no single VR headset out there that's just the "best" in all categories. These categories would be:

• Visual fidelity
  • Resolution/SDE (easier to achieve higher levels with LCDs vs OLEDs)
  • Refresh Rate (same as above)
  • Color depth (OLED is king but LCDs can be decent)
  • Black levels (same as above. There is also talk of mini-LED LCD displays which could get the best of both)
  • Sweet spot (Fresnel lenses used in Valve HMDs tend to make peripheral vision blurry unless you mod the HMD)
• Audio
  • Audio quality (on ear, off ear, and how good does it sound?)
  • Microphone quality
• Controllers
  • Ergonomics
  • Tracking (if independent of the HMD)
  • Level of complexity of controls
  • Quality
• Tracking
  • HMD tracking accuracy (Base stations offer the best tracking but require dedicated space. HMD camera tracking is far more accessible but has some minor tracking weaknesses compared to external)
  • Controller tracking accuracy (if tracked by the HMD)
• Connectivity
  • Connection type:
    • USB and HDMI/DisplayPort
    • USB only (compressed video stream)
    • Wireless?
    • Does the connectivity type affect the quality of any of the previous categories?
• Ergonomics
  • Comfort
  • Weight
  • Fit

If I look across all of these, the Index nails more of them than any other HMD but the lack of wireless and the comparatively low resolution these days is why I no longer use it in favor of the Cosmos Elite 2, Vive Pro, and Quest 2 for standing VR and the Reverb G2 for seated/cockpit VR in my office. While I think the Index is still good overall, I don't know that I'd recommend investing in one at this point as there may be better options right around the corner.

can't wait for psvr 2

yes in a space game that sony had not sure what it was. made feel alone and almost cried.

felt overwhelming.

it was a space exploration you just fly around looking at salvage ships.

is it for psvr? thats what I have at the moment.

I tried a couple of demos at a convention and it didn't grip me but this was a few years ago. I figure the quality of the experience has got much better. If it was wireless on ps vr2 I would maybe give it a second go.

No it's only for PC VR sorry man.

@gifford38: Forgot to mention the upcoming PSVR2. It does indeed look pretty good. Hopefully they'll have an option for wireless.

VR media rarely ever gave me presence. I went to VR convention in 2016 and no VR game there put me in it's world.

There are a small minority of VR games I actually liked

Half-Life Alyx- The perfect VR game

Climb- A climbing simulator. One false move and you feel like you are falling.

Dactyl Nightmare- A retro remake of the pivotal Dactyl Nightmare arcade VR game from 1992

Myst VR

Superhot was fun

Jurassic Park VR

Lambda VR was a missed opportunity with 4:3 ratio

The rest are just stuff for your mom

Yeah, and to think I've only ever played Rec Room on the Oculus Quest 2.

To be fair, Rec Room is practically many games rolled into one. If you're only going to play one VR game that's a good one.

Fair enough. I made a good call then I guess. :)

Yes, Teleroboxer! I'm not trolling, either. I think when you really get into a game, the complete black void all around your eyeballs really helps me forget who I am. After I take my head out of the Virtual Boy, reality feels SO weird.