PSVR hands on impressions

Inspired by GoldenElementXL's thread, I swung by Best Buy today to demo the PSVR.

Firstly, some context that I had going into it: I've used Oculus Rift DK1, high end full room VR (rumbling floor and surround sound, etc), and Google Cardboard with Moto X mk1 (low res) and Samsung Galaxy S6 edge (max res).

At the demo, I played EVE: Valkyrie, and the Ocean experience from PS VR Worlds (the latter being more a tech demo / "experience" than a game).

My impressions were quite positive.

Comfort: very very good. The headset is extremely light and unobtrusive. If you adjust it well, its soft light seal just barely kisses your face and does not leave any kind of impression (contrary to the amusing images people have dug up on the web of people basically using it misadjusted).

I would say my only complaint with comfort was the separate Sony headphones, while offering additional immersion, slipped a bit on my tiny head while looking extremely up or down, and having its band move relative to the perfectly immobile VR headset's bands was mildly immersion breaking. This seems like a "your mileage may vary" type thing.

Visuals: these were also remarkably good. The screen door effect was very very modest - it is perceptable because of the size of the pixels, but also more subtle than I am used to - I believe because of the better lens/screen technology used. In general, I think that the PSVR2 will be really killer if it continues this design but introduces a higher resolution screen. As it stands, everything still looked very good. Critically, the lighting in EVE was astounding - you really really do feel like you are in that (somewhat fuzzy) cockpit. Everything was just so natural looking.

Motion tracking: GoldenElement noted some issues here in his thread - I honestly didn't notice any. I'm not sure if differences in how well it's set up, maybe back lighting etc, could impact this. For me, the motion tracking was smooth, and flawless.

Motion sickness: here, again, our experiences diverged a bit. I experienced zero motion sickness, even when dogfighting and barrel rolling in EVE. I really believe this is a "your mileage may vary" case again - some people are probably more prone to it than others. As far as perceptible framerate problems, there were none whatsoever - everything felt like a smooth 60+ (probably 90, but I don't know for sure what these two titles were speced at; yes, 60+ on a stock PS4 - you people who swear up and down that it can't do it don't know what you are talking about). I think I would recommend that people who are interested try these things. Do not buy if you don't know if you are prone to motion sickness or not - but if devs keep it together like they did for these demos I don't foresee any issues for myself.

Miscellaneous impression: this tech (speaking beyond just PSVR) seems ideally suited for racing, flying, mech, and adventure games. For that latter, I mean that playing the underwater experience the first thing that came to mind was my first encounter with the wahrks in Riven, and how mind blowing such "immersive puzzle adventure" games would be with this tech. Hell, give me a PSVR Riven port with full live engine rendering instead of still frame images and I will day-one buy the system. It's perfect for this, and with the primary strength of VR being drawing you slightly more into the virtual world... I could even see that genre of game becoming revitalized through good use of this platform.

This may be a dumb question but was it running on a Neo? I want to get PSVR but not if I need a new ps4 on top of the VR price.

no.

@gregbmil1: no, it was a standard PS4. No doubt something like the Neo will be able to push higher frames, or visuals, or both on the same PSVR title, so it would technically be the "better" choice for PSVR - but PS4 seemed adequate from my experience.

The only two complaints I had from the experience were as follows:

- In the underwater experience, I realized very quickly how useful some gentle force feedback in the headset could be for immersion. There were things that resulted in your getting shook around visually, but having no physical experience of that shaking created a disconnect.

- In EVE, the thumbstick sensitivity was absurdly high. This has nothing to do with PSVR, but it made it extremely frustrating. I'm sure this can be adjusted - but just to make sure I cover all the bases on the negatives of the experience.

Oh! Another positive: PSVR works great with glasses. This is not the case with all VR headsets at all. But I had no issues fitting my glasses in there and it was apparently designed to accommodate them. This is a big win for the design.

I also got a chance to try it at best buy and completely agree with everything you said. I only did the underwater experience. The headset was comfrortable, and the directional sound from the headphones really helped boost the immersion as it directed my view based on where I heard the noise.

They do need a better way to secure the headphones as I also has once instance where it slipped as I was looking completely up. The tracking was lagless in my set-up. I even tried moving my head quickly to see if the experience would stutter or slow down and it didn't. I was skeptical of the tech but after experiencing it I'm excited to see what developer do with it. Also, I didn't get the chance to use any of the wands, only a standard PS4 remote control.

I sold my Vive for various reasons I won't go into, but as a full system it's clearly the best out there but still - HMD wise - it's not good enough for the money. My DK2 rift was more pleasant in many ways, due to solid blacks and no god rays/lensflare. Now, PSVR is meant to be similar to DK2 in spec AND in that it doesn't use fresnel lenses (like Rift CV1 and Vive do) this is what causes immersion breaking god rays.

PSVR also uses superior RGB screens instead of PENTILE. So this should aid in better contrast, blacks, colours (more natural) and combined with the BETTER lenses from Sony should make for the most 'visually connected' HMD of the big 3 (even with less power and lower res).

So my question to those that have tried it, did you notice this glassy/non foggy connection to the world in PSVR, where it felt more immersive, more impressive than rift/vive due to these things? I have it pre-ordered and I won't be buying a PS4 neo though clearly that has come out to make PSVR more future proof, there's only so much they will be able to do with VR on a standard PS4 and my future big spending is going towards PC VR Gen 2 with massive tech improvements hopefully.

So, given that PSVR is running on less powerful system, with lower res, those that have tried all/many VR would you say it felt the best ergonomically (it looks it) and visually (other than resolution), did it feel 'effortless' to the eyes and without visual annoyances? Am trying to work out whether to cancel my pre-order or not (And probably will) but am trying to see if there's any hope left... really GEN 2 VR is where it's going to be at. Also I have doubts about Move being good enough, compared to my ex-vive wands which were perfect. I already have 2 move wands from PS3 days though.

@EbeneezerGoode: Try it out for free and decide if you want to purchase it.

Super helpful post. Thanks for that. You clearly didn't read a word I wrote. The guys who tried them can answer these without me having to try anything, hence me bothering to write the posts instead of seeking out somewhere to demo one in public (which isn't my idea of fun)

No, we aren't your test bunnies, we cant tell what is/isn't comfortable for you.

I'm not really sure what you mean by "glassy/foggy" - I didn't notice anything abnormal in the images I saw other than the fact that they are more fuzzy due to the lower res. I am guessing that if you are picky (not criticising) about visuals to the point where you found Vive distracting and subpar then you might find PSVR's visuals subpar as well - but one thing it definitely has going for it is minimal screen door effect and it is extremely comfortable and unobtrusive.

I really think you ought to try it, because I don't know if we can know exactly what you mean by what is bugging you about the Vive visuals and whether it is gone in PSVR (or, if it is, whether the PSVR's lower res is a worthwhile tradeoff for you).

Maybe @Byshop can help - but I don't think he's tried PSVR yet (He's got a lot of experience with Vive and OR though)

Thanks for what info you could offer. Have decided to cancel my pre-order anyway because after tasting vive, anything less just isn't going to cut it for me. Gen 2 PC VR will be here soon. In the meantime I'm sure PSVR is going to be a lot of fun for PS4 users, esp those completely new to VR.

over and out.

I tried it just the other day, demo'd that battletank game or whatever it's called, game was fun and I enjoyed it, but the resolution was a bit low, was pretty blurry though I probably could have adjusted it better over my eyes. Also I have the CV1 oculus Rift which is also blurry, though compared to that demo its an issue with my Rift, I also admit the PS VR was more comfortable to wear, I have it preordered and plan to keep it as I want to try all the exclusive PS VR games.

Can't speak for PSVR specifically but VR is pretty wild as is the VR p0rn. It's weird when you should be physically feeling something but don't but some of those 4k, 360 degree video's really trick your brain to the point you can't help but reach out. It also feels a little weird to walk/run in a game as you are sitting down, I noticed the most when strafing but got used to it. Has that butterflies in your stomach feeling when you quickly go up then down a hill in a car. I could not handle the giant swing demo. Even though I know it's not real, I can't help but death grip my chair and I quickly end up taking off the headset. Adr1ft is pretty freaky, that distance between you, the earth and broken pieces of your ship can throw you for a loop. Movies on the big screen mode are good, you can curve the screen, have it right up to you..etc. I assume PSVR will be very similar experience except a little lower resolution and FOV.

VR is the shiznit though, just need some top shelf games for it. Wish Deus Ex: MD had an option for it.

if you can get the chance, play EVE on the Oculus Rift, you sit as your character is sitting in game, the immersion is amazing, while you are looking all around in 3D space while also maneuvering the ship around, it is a bit disorienting and I love it.

<b>psvr is da best it sold out of stores everywhere all preorders r packed. its the best vr ever no fanboy talk here just real talk once you test psvr you will buy it garantee it gonna be the best seller n change gaming forever thanks to godny imho facts</b>