Racing Cube - HTC Vive - 1080TI - i9

So the HTC VIVE pro arrived this afternoon, easy to set up using my existing base stations and controllers, by the way it doesn’t come with them, so beware.

 

1. Comfort is pretty much spot on once you get it fitted right, I would prefer no headphones which are already fitted, a simple Velcro cover can be removed revealing a hex screw which can be undone and then remove the built in headphones, they supply separately so no problem their, I never listen through the head phones but I read it sounds really good as the headset has a built in amp.

 

2.  Testing with iracing and steam...

Firstly steam recognises the device as a Vive Pro and encourage you to use a recommended setting of 132% which I think is based on the size of the lenses, I never changed any other settings, so simple. Clarity of vision has vastly improved,their are no pixels, the near vision is incredibly clearer and the brightness is just right making the clarity of detail amazing, no grumbles at all about that.

Setting up Iracing I used the graphics configurator which puts all settings to high, I tested that on a test track and was amazed how much better it was, the claims of 78% improvement are right. I then tried a practice session with other drivers present,I found a had to tweak the settings slightly of which I have good knowledge as the original Vive I’ve spent days tweaking to get right, plus reading nearly every article and help forums out their. Once I altered the settings the system was now stable and I could concentrate on racing, the near vision again is so much better and helps you focus your driving even more, the far vision also helps as its so much clearer agind helping the overall focus, all the graphics have basically come alive in realism, cloud, light and depth, the detail on other racers cars is also very impressive.

I should also mention that the tracking as absolutely spot on with the correct settings, no drift, I very well centred hmd which is balanced and smooth, if you do over do the settings you will experience judder and lag, so be careful their.

 

3. Summary...

HTC Vive have elevated their first VR headsets to the Pro and have ticked all the boxes, their is a vast improvement, I take my hat of to them and even more exciting that things can only get better in the near future, I’m sure PImax will be aiming to beat them. A clear advantage is having a high spec PC with at least a GTX1080TI or equivalent, that is what I use and can’t comment on lower spec Graphics cards and pc, so be careful. The price is £799 British pounds, not cheap but totally worth the investment if you are a regular user of VR.

 

If you have any questions I will be glad to answer them.