Sitting on the edge about getting virtual reality (VR) goggles for your flight simming? Well read my experience and perhaps it will help give you a push off of the fence.
Using helicopters in FSX, I was okay at it. But it was a chore and I didn’t really care for it. In X-Plane & DCS, I sucked. When I got my VR glasses 2 years ago, I started with the original Oculus Rift. All of the sudden, helicopters were easy. I could fly and land pretty well right off of the bat. WOW!
Staying at the right speed and flying the pattern in my trusty Cessna was much less of a chore as well. Very much like the real thing, I focused on the things that I do when flying in real life.
Most recently I have been tinkering around with the complex Zibo 737-800 and FMC’s. Keeping that thing headed where I wanted and how I wanted was next to impossible when I had to divert my eyes to deal with the FMC during takeoff because the autopilot wasn’t turning on. Then I did it all in VR.
I had the same issues with the something with the FMC not being right so the friggin’ autopilot wouldn’t turn on. The big difference was I flew the SID out of Vegas like a pro… by hand. It was Super easy. Barely an inconvenience! Something came up so I wasn’t going to complete the flight that I planned. So 30+ miles away from the airport I turned around and headed back.
I flew the whole way back manually. I intercepted the ILS and flew by hand from 20 miles out. What a breeze it was!!
I think there is no question that VR is the way to go if you have the money and spend time in the sim.
Using helicopters in FSX, I was okay at it. But it was a chore and I didn’t really care for it. In X-Plane & DCS, I sucked. When I got my VR glasses 2 years ago, I started with the original Oculus Rift. All of the sudden, helicopters were easy. I could fly and land pretty well right off of the bat. WOW!
Staying at the right speed and flying the pattern in my trusty Cessna was much less of a chore as well. Very much like the real thing, I focused on the things that I do when flying in real life.
Most recently I have been tinkering around with the complex Zibo 737-800 and FMC’s. Keeping that thing headed where I wanted and how I wanted was next to impossible when I had to divert my eyes to deal with the FMC during takeoff because the autopilot wasn’t turning on. Then I did it all in VR.
I had the same issues with the something with the FMC not being right so the friggin’ autopilot wouldn’t turn on. The big difference was I flew the SID out of Vegas like a pro… by hand. It was Super easy. Barely an inconvenience! Something came up so I wasn’t going to complete the flight that I planned. So 30+ miles away from the airport I turned around and headed back.
I flew the whole way back manually. I intercepted the ILS and flew by hand from 20 miles out. What a breeze it was!!
I think there is no question that VR is the way to go if you have the money and spend time in the sim.
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