Creating a Virtual Reality Flight Simulator Cockpit
Virtual Reality headsets are revolutionizing flight training. They provide a more realistic training experience at a fraction of the cost of traditional simulators.
All you need is a PC, a VR headset and a set of hand controllers to turn switches and knobs in the virtual cockpit. You can even grab the yoke, stick and throttle to fly without hardware controls.
The Basics
VR technology has transformed the gaming industry with its unparalleled immersive experience, and flight simulators are no exception. If you have been thinking about trying out a virtual reality cockpit, there are some things to keep in mind before making your decision.
A common concern people have about getting into a VR flight simulator cockpit is whether they need to know how to fly real airplanes. While many enthusiasts have setups that look much like a home airliner cockpit, they don’t have to be a professional pilot in order to enjoy the experience.
In addition to being able to see more around you simply by moving your head, VR also offers the ability to interact with all the switches, knobs, and controls that are found in a real aircraft. This is a massive improvement over traditional simulators, which require you to take your vr flight simulator cockpit hands off the yoke and throttle to use a mouse or hat switch to move your view angle or to flip a switch.
Another advantage of a VR setup is that you can stop the flight at any time and return to the options menu, which allows you to change basic settings that will have an effect on your experience. Depending on the model you choose, some of these settings can even influence how well your aircraft performs in the game!
The Headset
The VR headset is the centerpiece of the cockpit experience, so it’s important to choose a quality one. There are a few options to consider, including the Valve Index, HTC Vive, and Oculus Rift. All of these headsets support Windows Mixed Reality headsets, so they’re compatible with Flight Simulator.
The Valve Index is a supercharged VR headset that comes with external tracking and some of the best motion controllers around. It also features a 3.5-inch display with a combined resolution that’s higher than most monitors. It also has an in-built eye tracker and room-scaling components that can help mitigate nausea caused by VR gaming.
It’s available as a complete package for about $1,000 or you can piece together the hardware to get started. The Index’s high price tag means it may not be an option for every flight simulator enthusiast, but it does offer the most immersive VR experience for pilot training.
The Vive Pro is a more affordable choice that still packs in a lot of power. Its dual 2.89-inch displays feature a combined resolution of 4320×2160, which makes it the highest-resolution headset on the market. Its bundled Oculus Touch motion controllers are comfortable and provide touch-capacitive sensors for a more realistic feel. It also has a built-in head strap for easy removal when not in use.
The Controllers
If you’re putting in the time to get comfortable with VR, it’s worth getting the best headset you can afford. Thankfully, there are plenty of options out there. The Index is a great example — it has a manual interpupillary distance adjustment slider and adjustable eye relief to make sure it fits a wide range of people. Plus, its two base stations handle precision tracking for a smooth and connected virtual experience.
Most headsets come with hand controllers that can be used to navigate your experience inside the virtual space. Most Flight Simulator games support these, but it’s important to know that they don’t necessarily offer the same level of immersion as using a standard keyboard and mouse.
For example, while DCS World supports hand tracking, it’s not yet able to use that to allow users to interact with cockpit instruments in the same way they would using their own hands. Fortunately, civilian aviation-focused AeroFly FS 2 does have a more natural implementation that allows users to point at buttons and knobs in the cockpit to manage aircraft systems, and it even supports grabbing onto the yoke or flight stick to steer.
This kind of interaction drastically cuts down on the amount of time it takes to learn a new airplane, and helps students feel more confident in emergency scenarios that can occur while flying a plane. Plus, it reduces the number of real-world accidents that could occur in these situations because the student can practice in a controlled environment where mistakes don’t have any real-world consequences.
The Add-Ons
If you want your cockpit to really feel like a real one there’s lots more that needs to be done. Firstly the interior has to be modeled. Not a quick eye-candy job either, each of the buttons, knobs and gauges has to be modelled with a functional purpose in mind. They also have to be VR Shooting Area animated and positioned and then linked up to the controllers using a custom script to make them work.
Adding to this the virtual cockpit has to be made specifically for each spacecraft. This is why not every addon plane has a VC – it takes a lot of time and effort to model them. This is especially true if the spacecraft has an unusually complex user interface.
A couple of things to be aware of when using a VR flight simulator cockpit are that they are not as immersive as a regular 2D screen and you may experience motion sickness and discomfort after prolonged use. There are addons that can help with this, for example, Next Level Racing has a motion platform for FSX which uses your own movements to create a more comfortable flying experience.
Another option is to purchase a flight simulator that offers interactive cockpits and other immersive features. These are often used for training and can greatly reduce the amount of time it takes new pilots to reach proficiency.