VR Headsets and Assetto Corsa

Didn't want this to clutter up the AC thread...

I've been researching upgrading to a 3 monitor setup, but with the cost of the VR stuff dropping, I'm wondering if it might be a better solution in the long term.

Is anyone using a VR headset with Assetto Corsa?  Please describe what you're using, and how it's working for you...

I've used my HP Reverb g2 with assetto and it's amazing.  A little tricky to switch back and forth, but the driving experience is really sweet.  I'm also downsizing some stuff and selling it on fb marketplace soon. You interested?

A Meta Quest 2 is $200ish bucks.. Well worth it! 

I play AC No-Hesi on Shotuko Revival reminds me of being back in Japan flying down those expressways again. I love IRacing, Dirt Track oval or anything going sideways the VR really shines.

Depending on your rig the a 200 dollars Meta might not compare to a triple screen when it comes to resolution and framerate. But the Quest Pro, Quest 3 (just released) and other more $$$ headsets can get there. Depending on the Screens your probably still cheaper then tripples. 

From what I have heard menus can be a little difficult but the driving experience is supposed to be excellent. Worth the little bit of annoyance dealing with menus. 

One more thing to consider is your steering wheel - how many Buttons do you use, and can you find them blind?

Because when using the VR headset, you cannot see your physical Steering Wheel, or any Button Boxes you may use.

I play(ed) a little with a Oculus Rift DK2 - very crude compared to modern Headsets, but the effect of being in the car on the track is still there.

Have you tried it somewhere? Motion Sickness can be a problem..

I ended up buying a Meta Quest 2 (wish they were $200 when I did, LOL) and trying it with AC.

Yes, the driving experience is really good.  You can actually lean out the car window and look at the track surface!  I was able to pick up more reference points, and you can see changes in track surface (camber, etc) that you can't see on a flat screen.

Unfortunately, you need a pretty studly computer to run it, and mine isn't (GeForce GTX 1660 card).  I was able to get ~50-70fps in practice by turning some of the video settings down, but as soon as I added other cars, it went completely to E36 M3.  I routinely get 250+fps on a single screen with AC.  The headset was also terrible on a wireless connection.  I had to connect it via USB cable to get the results I got.

Also, as noted, you are completely blind when using the buttons on your wheel, or keyboard if you need them.  Menus, as Dean noted, can also be a little weird.

The biggest problem for me was focus.  I need readers, 'cause I'm an old fart, and just to be extra special, I need different magnification left/right.  I had a really difficult time getting the headset focused, and it's still not 100%.  The small amount it's out of focus is enough to give me headaches after about 20-30 minutes of driving.

I'm planning a computer upgrade after the holidays, so I will revisit the VR thing then and see how it works.  And although I bought them specifically for AC, I would like to try some other games.  I do expect to end up with a triple monitor setup for my sim, though.  If your eyes aren't FUBAR'd, YMMV.

In reply to cmcmillin31 :

If he isn't interesed I might be

I sold the reverb about a month ago :(

Rodan said:

The biggest problem for me was focus.  I need readers, 'cause I'm an old fart, and just to be extra special, I need different magnification left/right.  I had a really difficult time getting the headset focused, and it's still not 100%.  The small amount it's out of focus is enough to give me headaches after about 20-30 minutes of driving.

You know you can get matching Prescription Lenses into the Headsets?

I did it on the cheap, with 3D printed Adapters and cheap glasses from a chinese onlineshop, but nowadays there are a few shops that offer them, starting at ~60 USD from what I've seen.

In reply to Gzwg :

Thank you, I did not know that.  I'll look into it when I revisit the headset down the road.

Gzwg said:

Have you tried it somewhere? Motion Sickness can be a problem..

Oof, I am trying to figure this out. I won a Meta Quest 2 last weekend, my close friend uses iRacing with that and he swears by it. So I am (was) ready to jump all in. I went to his house last night and raced for ~45 minutes, ran Lime Rock, I started to sweat after a little but then I felt a little queasy. Stopped and went home, felt progressively worse and woke up with a killer head ache and feeling off. I can't swear it was the VR headset so I am willing to try again and see but this may be a deal breaker for me. 

My $.02 postscript on VR for AC/ sim racing:

Back in January I upgraded to 32" triple monitors.  It has worked far better for me than VR did for racing.  It's very immersive, and you can still access your keyboard/mouse and wheel buttons, and not just by feel.  No headaches from wearing the headset, or the constantly slightly out of focus view.  No nausea.  I also feel like you can move your eyes around the screen, while keeping your head still... that never worked well in VR for me.  It always felt like I had to turn my head to look through the center of my vision at what I wanted to focus on, which made it difficult to glance at gauges/readouts, etc.

Triples are more expensive than a VR headset, and definitely bulkier, but for racing have been a far better solution for me.  Not sure at this point if VR is better than single screen, but the triples were a game changer.

I will back that up.  I got an Oculus 2, mostly for flight sims (which it is great for) and just to try it.  I have messed around with it a bit in AC.

It is very immersive, especially with good car models.  Visibility is not as good as you would think.  You really need to fully turn your head to look around (unless you have a very high end VR headset, which will help a bit) since the headsets do not have great resolution / focus out of straight ahead and only a 90 ish degree field of view.  Looking for a car that is next to you and slightly behind can take a lot of effort.  A monitor setup is way faster / easier, which of course is why the "pro" racers use monitors.  The monitors will also look a lot better/sharper if you are using 4k.

Optimizing the headset can be rather convoluted also since there are multiple areas you can adjust things (especially if you start using some of the useful tools available).  You want it as fast and high res as you can get it, because blurry and slow are not good in VR.   Quick tip:  If you do try them, make sure to switch to the OpenVR api.  The Steam api is both slower and introduces flashing and stuttering in some circumstances (which is really bad in VR!)

I could see VR could be very useful in learning tracks (with good models of course) since it adds the element of looking into corners etc.  I also noticed, a stockish' car with softer suspensions (especially under braking) can induce ickyness' feelings.  I might mess with it some more in AC, but certainly not with the GT4 cars.  The seats in those cars highly restrict your view! (but that is of course realistic!)

In reply to NY Nick :

When the PS4 came out with the VR for Gran Turismo. I jumped on buying it. I would play for 45 minutes I would feel sick, so I did some research , it was recommended to build up a tolerance to do 10 minute sprints then wait for a hour or so. Eventually changing from 10 to 20 minutes and working towards being able to a long stint. While it helped, the limitations in Gran Turismo play, and I prefer other games over it, I ended up getting rid of it. I would like to try a PC version and another game to compare and contrast.

Rodan, was it pretty easy to get the quest headset to work with AC?  I had an HP Reverb and it was always annoying and refused to work on many occasions.  I have a quest 3 headset that was recently acquired, and wondering if it's worth trying.  I have a limited amount of time per week to mess with things, so it needs to be pretty plug and play to make sense for me.  How was the setup process for you?

In reply to cmcmillin31 :

It was a PITA, honestly.  I had to use a USB cable, because wireless was choking it down too much.  Even then, I spent a lot of time fiddling with settings to get around 70fps.  But that only worked offline, and practicing solo.  As soon as I added other cars, either AI or online, the framerate would plummet.  I've since switched to a more powerful computer, but never setup the VR on it because the triple monitors were so much better.

Also, I had to run Steam VR while running AC for everything to work together, which made getting in/out of AC a PITA.  Especially when you can't see your keyboard.  I would probably go back to a single monitor before I'd use VR for AC again.  I think there are probably a lot of things VR is great for, but sim racing isn't one of them.

There is a potential fix (?) to the "can't see the keyboard" issue.  There is a desktop option somewhere that allows you to create a "hole" in the VR where you can see a designated area of your desk (keyboard in this case).  I have not played with looking for that yet.  It might be a bit weird seeing your keyboard in you lap or in the passenger seat, but it might be a decent option.

And yes, trying to figure out settings to maximize the VR can get pretty confusing.  There are a LOT of things you can adjust, and they seem to be scattered around in different places and many many suggestions on what settings to use online/YouTube.  Even getting the link up, how to recenter etc. can be hard to remember how to get to.

As noted, getting rid of Steams VR API is a very good step and using a cable is also highly suggested.  The Steam API tends to cause this stuttering when loading which is very uncomfortable in VR.

This is the cable I bought.  WAY cheaper than the Oculus one, and is plenty fast enough on a USB3 plug (it even has a strap making it easy to anchor it to the headset):  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B098399X91?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details&th=1

Open Composite is the replacement for the Steam VR API:   https://github.com/DevOculus-Meta-Quest/OpenComposite

Open XR Toolkit is a very good way to see performance on screen (and, yet another way to adjust): https://mbucchia.github.io/OpenXR-Toolkit/

Also, create a link to the OculusDebugTool.exe (again, another way to adjust...).  This is the path I have to use:  "C:\Program Files\Oculus\Support\oculus-diagnostics"

Here is a quick search link I did for the keyboard thing (passthrough camer).  I haven't read it, and have not tried it, but I will leave it here, if nothing else, so I can find it again:  https://smartglasseshub.com/quest-2-passthrough/

Have fun... don't puke  

I think the real question is how much GPU power you have. Driving three monitors at 1440 and 240htz takes a ton of power. A basic 4070 can push to a headset dead easy in AC. 

Also getting a triple monitor setup running at high refresh rate can be difficult. It is my preferred setup with 200 radius 42 inch after trying a few. VR for me needs custom inserts which stink to swap out for other drivers or at least it did with what I had. 

Also dig on Craigslist and FMP for used gear. You can get serious deals there on hardware.