The embargo for PlayStation VR reviews dropped today, and with it an avalanche of impressions regarding Sony's latest piece of hardware. As many hoped for, it has earned acclaim from many outlets for its ability to produce incredible immersion at a market leading MSRP. Most reviews sit on the positive end of the spectrum, reassuring the hundreds of thousands of consumers who have pre-ordered the device.
As you can expect, not all is perfect. And actually, there is one common concern with PlayStation VR that could pose a significant problem in the long run.
The most commonly overlooked element of virtual reality is headtracking. Having two displays cover your peripheral vision is just one part of the equation. Tracking head movement, and replicating it on-screen with as little delay as possible is absolutely pivotal to immersion.
The PlayStation VR relies on the PS4 Camera, which has effectively inherited the internals of the PlayStation Eye with minor adjustment. In other words, it's an outdated piece of tracking technology that was originally intended only to track the PlayStation Move hand controllers.
The problem is that every minor flaw of the PS4 Camera's technology is amplified when it's used to track your head movements at over 60 frames per second. Missed frames and delayed response of hand movement was a mere inconvenience when it came to tracking PlayStation Move. These technical shortcomings are dramatic when it comes to headtracking.
Most critics have noted issues with tracking to some degree. IGN's Dan Stapleton wrote:
Jeff Grubb of VentureBeat agreed, stating:
Kotaku's Kirk Hamilton also shared his experience, explaining what happens when tracking falters:
The biggest offender has been during Giant Bomb's "pre-launch special", where the staff played and live streamed their experience for multiple hours. The issues were documented live in front of an audience of thousands of consumers. Jeff Gerstmann and Brad Shoemaker made mention of it several times, stating that it was disorienting.
Fast paced games like Thumper are most prone to tracking failure.It isn't an issue that necessarily happens frequently for most people, but when it happens it kills immersion. One minute you're led to believe that you're in a fantasy world, and the next your entire peripheral vision is taken up by a drifting or frozen image that is nothing like what your mind expects to see. In faster paced games like Thumper it's particularly problematic. Thankfully, most of the PSVR's launch library is more mild in nature.
It's unclear if this is simply an issue with the review units, or whether or not it can be remedied with a software update. What we do know is that there are tracking issues and the PS4 Camera is a part of that system.
This is first generation VR technology, so to expect perfection is absolutely unreasonable. However, this is a $399/$499 piece of hardware that you're going to be seeing a lot of marketing for this Fall/Holiday season. You may want to try the PSVR out at one of the Best Buy kiosks before committing such a large sum of money. Few things feel worse than buyers remorse.
