Sharkku wrote:I can't help but think that people who don't see why VR would be a good idea for flight simulation are completely lacking imagination. Of course, they have never tried VR, but just the slightest imagination had me as excited as I've ever been long before I had my first go with VR.
Edit: I will never consider buying a flight simulator without VR support ever in the future.
Could not agree more on all points. I know Martin has tried VR so he knows the difference and advantage Dovetail is neglecting. And I know that VR is a small part of the larger sim market. But just as with VR in general, once people try it they see what we are talking about. I know not everyone may want it, but most flight sim people such as myself are nuts for it and VR in general. Getting in the airplanes is the ultimate goal of flight simulation. Not staring at some monitor. And for flight training in low-tech aircraft, a good stick and pedals and students can really do some quality training. As an aside, I originally didn't care much for the title "FlyInside" that Dan chose, but after using it all this time and with how good it is, I can't think of a better name for the software.
I know flight instructors comment about knowing which students spend time in flight sims because the students are basically flying on instruments and not looking out the window. That is what monitor sims do to you. I had one notice that about me some years ago and do the very typical unfold of a sectional chart across the panel and tell me to look out the windows. I have a feeling that flight instructors won't be able to tell a VR sim pilot, though. I know that in the sims I do look out the windows a lot and choose to even fly planes with lots of visibility out of the cockpit. I scan the panel to see about airspeed and altitude and such but my view now is out.
I really can't think of a better feature for a sim aimed at flight training. And it would draw VR pilots like a magnet and a lot of VR people who aren't pilots. I don't know what kind of adoption rate they would see among people with VR HMDs but I have to believe it would be very high. And monitor pilots might be more tempted to take the plunge into VR to see for themselves.
It's a missed boat for them and I don't see any need to buy the flight school or regular sim until there is VR support.