VR only, occacional VR and screen only players

[Rapierarch]

Rather new player here. Just out of curiosity what is your preferred display solution. 

[Zinovy_Kolobanov]

Without a doubt VR, once you try it, the monitor seems a limitation and not very immersive, I also have to emphasize that the experience with Tank Crew in VR is not the same as with airplanes. Worst FPS consistency, dizzy sensations with sights and binoculars. That is why tank crew is still only viable with MONITOR ... unfortunately.
But in general VR offers me much more immersion

[Luftschiff]

If I know I'll be flying for a bit, definitely VR - but it IS a bit of a chore to set up for me, and I get obscenely hot after a few hours. VR is also much harder to capture footage of so when I'm recording, or just hopping in for a quick afternoon sesh I still use my Track IR. 

[grcurmudgeon]

I would love to try VR, but need to find a faster video card and then be able to afford a headset, so for now screen + TrackIR.

[Blitzen]

Only VR with GB….but until CloDDWT goes VR,I “fly” it with TrackIR.

Edited October 15, 2021 by Blitzen

[Asgar]

I have 0 interesting in flying on a flat screen ever since i tried IL-2 in VR for the first time

[Jade_Monkey]

I used to play VR and switch to monitor for MP. Not anymore, my trackIR is now in a box in the basement.

VR exclusive now that there are visibility improvements and tools like VRNecksafer exist.

[40plus]

I 100% fly in VR and would never go back to flat screen. However, I 100% only tank on the flat screen. Since the pole appeared to be about flying, I choose VR only

[GamerK5083]

No use for VR at present.  Cute toy, a real rush at first, got over it, sticking with TrackIR.  There's such a thing as too immersive, as when wife/kids need to talk to me, phone rings, or I just want to reach for my snack/drink.  But it's clearly the future, I'm sure we're not far from the day when most games don't even have a non-VR option.

[Diggun]

screen only here. I'm all about the eye candy.

[FTC_horsky]

I never tried il2bos with a screen but I flew plenty of the old il2 on a screen. Back then, couldn't even fathom something like VR, so when it finally was possible it just blew everyone away. I know I wont ever go back to a screen. Even with the steep price, inflexibility and all the fiddling its still worth it ?

 

 

Edited October 15, 2021 by SvAF/F16_horsky

[Rapierarch]

Wow people. I thought VR only players were in minority after 38 votes only 32% says screen only and 58% VR only. 

3 hours ago, Zinovy_Kolobanov said:

Without a doubt VR, once you try it, the monitor seems a limitation and not very immersive, I also have to emphasize that the experience with Tank Crew in VR is not the same as with airplanes. Worst FPS consistency, dizzy sensations with sights and binoculars. That is why tank crew is still only viable with MONITOR ... unfortunately.
But in general VR offers me much more immersion

After setting up my VR for the planes and all the tweaks I simply do not dare to start with the tank crew. I'm curious though. 

But everytime I fire up IL-2 I directly go for planes. I know that I can try it in MP but still planes are my thing. And there is also way Flying Circus. Which is just made for VR in my opinion. If anyone who owns a HMD have not tried the Flying Circus you are missing the thrill of your life. 

[Mike2945]

Monitor only (with Freetrack plus Delanclip) for me.  VR is beyond my price-range at present as I would need to ugrade my graphics card (my rig currently runs very well at 60fps on a GTX 1060 3Mb card).   

[DD_Arthur]

1 hour ago, Rapierarch said:

And there is also way Flying Circus. Which is just made for VR in my opinion. If anyone who owns a HMD have not tried the Flying Circus you are missing the thrill of your life. 

 

Agree completely. Flying Circus is the best VR experience of all the flightsims out there.

[PatrickAWlson]

I chose VR only.  Truth is that I do both, but on screen only to test missions.  For fun it is always VR.

[Mtnbiker1998]

21 minutes ago, PatrickAWlson said:

I chose VR only.  Truth is that I do both, but on screen only to test missions.  For fun it is always VR.

100% this. I tend to screw around in quick missions on screen (even fiddling with mouse aim sometimes) but if I'm actually flyin-flyin, I'm in VR

[DD_Crash]

VR only for me, yes even Tank Crew never had issues with tank crew. What are they?

[NoelGallagher]

screen only 

[SharpeXB]

I think the poll will get skewed, as usual, due to sampling enthusiasts on the forum. The only large and random poll I’ve seen on VR use in flight sims is in the Navigraph survey. It shows VR at 11-12%. Curiously that number has remained flat for the three years they’ve included the question. 
I’’m sticking with a monitor because VR will never be able to overcome its performance issues in games which are primarily designed to run in 2D. Running VR requires a doctoral degree in computer tweaking science and spending more time on that than playing the actual game. No thanks…

VR also doesn’t seem to be gaining any traction in the gaming world so I won’t get my hopes up about it. 

Edited October 16, 2021 by SharpeXB

[F19_Haddock]

5 hours ago, SharpeXB said:

VR requires a doctoral degree in computer tweaking science and spending more time on that than playing the actual game. No thanks…

 

Not necessarily. I'm running a Rift S on a GTX 1660 and it's a very smooth experience. Il2 looks stunning, and it just works.

 

I hear this argument quite often that because VR hasn't been adopted by the masses it is destined to die. You could say the same thing about flight sims, or HOTAS controllers, and yet... here we are.

 

VR might not be for all, and that's fine, but it's here to stay

Edited October 16, 2021 by F19_Haddock

[Eisenfaustus]

6 hours ago, SharpeXB said:

I think the poll will get skewed, as usual, due to sampling enthusiasts on the forum. The only large and random poll I’ve seen on VR use in flight sims is in the Navigraph survey. It shows VR at 11-12%. Curiously that number has remained flat for the three years they’ve included the question. 
I’’m sticking with a monitor because VR will never be able to overcome its performance issues in games which are primarily designed to run in 2D. Running VR requires a doctoral degree in computer tweaking science and spending more time on that than playing the actual game. No thanks…

VR also doesn’t seem to be gaining any traction in the gaming world so I won’t get my hopes up about it. 

I disagree. 
Why should a random query be a better indication than a poll on this forum? I can fly MSFS in 2D and enjoy the eye candy - but any combat flight sim feels hollow to me without VR. Especially as VR is superbly done in IL2 any question including other sims as well is irrelevant for the question how IL2 users play. 

[simfan2015]

There are other factors at play in such a poll. I think sharpXB is right. My guess is that in the English forum most people here are from the US and Europe. It is also without any doubt related to annual income. If you have to hope each and every day you can feed your family then getting that rtx 3090 and hp reverb g2 is of less importance. But people in the less fortunate part of the world may also own a PC , be it an older and cheaper computer. If money was no issue, I personally am convinced more than 50 percent of pc players would prefer vr!!!? 

Edited October 16, 2021 by simfan2015

[kissTheSky]

18 hours ago, Rapierarch said:

 And there is also way Flying Circus. Which is just made for VR in my opinion. If anyone who owns a HMD have not tried the Flying Circus you are missing the thrill of your life. 

 

17 hours ago, DD_Arthur said:

 

Agree completely. Flying Circus is the best VR experience of all the flightsims out there.

Well, you guys are definitely making a good case for me to buy Flying Circus.

[AEthelraedUnraed]

2 hours ago, Eisenfaustus said:

Why should a random query be a better indication than a poll on this forum?

Because you're pre-selecting from a specific group, and that always introduces a bias.

 

Likely most IL2 players don't even have a forum account. Most that do have an account don't regularly check the General Discussion forum, much less respond. Hence, it's safe to say that those people who do respond to a poll such as this are statistically significantly more active IL2 players than most. I think it's also safe to say that active IL2 players are more inclined to do costly purchases for IL2 than more occasional players. Hence, people who respond to this poll are statistically significantly more likely to use VR than the general public.

[E69_Qpassa_VR]

Reverb G2 is great, although it's hard to spot

9 hours ago, SharpeXB said:

I think the poll will get skewed, as usual, due to sampling enthusiasts on the forum. The only large and random poll I’ve seen on VR use in flight sims is in the Navigraph survey. It shows VR at 11-12%. Curiously that number has remained flat for the three years they’ve included the question. 
I’’m sticking with a monitor because VR will never be able to overcome its performance issues in games which are primarily designed to run in 2D. Running VR requires a doctoral degree in computer tweaking science and spending more time on that than playing the actual game. No thanks…

VR also doesn’t seem to be gaining any traction in the gaming world so I won’t get my hopes up about it. 

Performance issues?, I fly most of the time at 90 FPS

[Soilworker]

I've only ever flown GB with VR, since the capability was released (I owned it earlier but never played it). I only play in 2D to set up my head position or if I'm doing some quick hardware testing. 

 

I used to play RoF with TIR and then a post on the RoF forums about the (in development at the time) Oculus Rift got me super excited for VR. VR actually got me (properly) into WWII aviation, I was always more into WWI back then but there's something awesome about sitting in a somewhat claustrophobic cockpit with a canopy, 109 is a good example... 

[AEthelraedUnraed]

3 hours ago, E69_Qpassa_VR said:

Performance issues?, I fly most of the time at 90 FPS

I have to agree with SharpeXB here. There's painfully few optimizations you can do for VR rendering, so with the exact same graphics settings and resolution and assuming no bandwith problems etc., your FPS will generally be only about half that of non-VR.

 

That said, I much prefer flying VR at Low GFX settings and per-eye resolution, to Ultra GFX settings on my monitor.

Edited October 16, 2021 by AEthelraedUnraed

[BlitzPig_EL]

Of the BlitzPigs that actively fly this sim, none use VR.  The two of our loose knit bunch that do use VR are DCS only, weirdo button pusher jet jocks.

All those kerosene fumes rot your brain you know.

[Norz]

23 hours ago, Luftschiff said:

If I know I'll be flying for a bit, definitely VR - but it IS a bit of a chore to set up for me, and I get obscenely hot after a few hours. VR is also much harder to capture footage of so when I'm recording, or just hopping in for a quick afternoon sesh I still use my Track IR. 

 

I have Quest 2 but prefer to use a monitor for IL2. Quest 2 or something else cannot deliver me all details from the picture that can be seen with 1920x1080 or 2560x1440 or 4k.

 

 

[40plus]

10 hours ago, SharpeXB said:

 VR requires a doctoral degree in computer tweaking science and spending more time on that than playing the actual game.

 

I plugged mine in, and it worked. Will my diploma arrive via the mail or do I need to fill out a form or something?

[BlitzPig_EL]

Please send your one time, $1500 payment to the BlitzPig_EL College of Computer Studies, and we will forward a PDF of your diploma.  Please note that the PDF will come from an "off shore" IP address, so please turn off all your anti-virius, and other computer security soft/hard ware until our email arrives.

 

Thank you.

[PB0_Roll]

VR in winter only, this thing produces so much heat that it's unbearable in the other seasons. It litterally burns my eyes.

 

HP reverb

Edited October 16, 2021 by PB0_Roll

[HansBlitz]

Since July 2017 have only flown VR. For me, the fightsim time in VR was one of the best things I've gotten for money I spent. Others may or may not feel that way but that is how much I do enjoy it.

[Rapierarch]

3 hours ago, kissTheSky said:

 

Well, you guys are definitely making a good case for me to buy Flying Circus.

Ah the only thing you need is a small desk fan blowing right to your face. Than you are really fully immersed!

[SharpeXB]

6 hours ago, Eisenfaustus said:

Why should a random query be a better indication than a poll on this forum?

Because a truly random sample would in fact be random. The forum members who post here are just a tiny fraction of the game owners and tend to be enthusiasts. If you did a poll asking how many members have triple screens or HOTAS controllers you’d get the same skewed result. 

3 hours ago, E69_Qpassa_VR said:

Performance issues?

This isn’t the only flight sim I play. DCS by all accounts I see is abysmal. I really have the desire to spend all my gaming time actually gaming. These people with the strongest hardware money can buy spend weeks of futility trying to eke frames out of their PCs

 

Running games in 3D will always be more demanding than 2D. Therefore VR will always struggle for performance unless you’re playing a game specifically designed for it. And then you wouldn’t be seeing nearly the graphics quality you’d expect from a current game. 

[Dagwoodyt]

Where cost of entry is a major barrier there will be folks who hold a grudge against any technological advancement. BoX has an excellent VR implementation. DCS on my rig seems to have too much of a haze effect and the clickable cockpits can create a "window out of focus" error requiring removal of the HMD to correct and seems to occur at the most inconvenient moment in a flight. Nevertheless it's worth all the inconvenience to fly the Mossie in VR! If dismissing VR makes folks feel good there's no harm done. 

[15[Span.]/JG51Costa]

S. All

Ever since I tried the DKV1 from Oculus as a backer, with its horrible resolution and reduced FOV, I knew that virtual reality would be the future of seated simulation.
And since the CV1 I have not flown on a flat screen again, even knowing that in MP I was at a distinct disadvantage .
Now that I enjoy my Pimax 8Kx I think the disadvantage is not so great.
And I think this is not an unbiased poll. 
I don't know how many of you who only fly on flat screen + TrackIr have had a chance to try this fantastic simulator in VR.
 
Saludos.
15(Span.)/JG51Costa
 

[Dragon1-1]

VR only here. I didn't think it'd be as great as it was, but even CV1 was really something else. For vehicle simulators, VR really is the future, and it's an amazing realization that it is very much the present, as well. There's literally nothing that can approach the immersion of a VR headset in that price range, about the only thing you can do better is building a home cockpit, and that is extremely limited if you fly more than one plane.

 

I'm not convinced about the whole "Metaverse" idea Facebook is pushing (mostly since between price, VR sickness, hardware requirements and plain old inconvenience, the userbase is just too small), but hopefully it'll help finance improvements to VR hardware and software (I hope we'll someday have either native SteamVR support for most headsets, or native WMR support for games).

2 hours ago, Dagwoodyt said:

DCS on my rig seems to have too much of a haze effect and the clickable cockpits can create a "window out of focus" error requiring removal of the HMD to correct and seems to occur at the most inconvenient moment in a flight. 

Alt-tab will usually get you back into DCS due to the way Windows arranges things. You might need to do it manually the first time, all the other times it'll work. But yeah, this is something the devs need to address.

[Rapierarch]

6 hours ago, PB0_Roll said:

VR in winter only, this thing produces so much heat that it's unbearable in the other seasons. It litterally burns my eyes.

 

HP reverb

I use quest 2 and I have heard a lot in the forums telling people their discomfort due to the heat. I spent the whole summer with that never had that problem. May be some HMD's has it I did not particularly pay attention to the made and model of it. I haver also heard that many people buy desk fans to remedy that. 

Edited October 16, 2021 by Rapierarch

[javelina]

VR only for the flight sims...  can't ever go back to pancake mod.