Is TRACKIR 5 A Must for DCS?

Is track IR 5 a must and are there any other alternatives or competitors?

I couldn't fly without it.

I don't know if I would call it a must as there are people who do just fine without TrackIR. I know I could never go back to flying without it in the 6 or so months I've been using mine for. Just my 0.02 cents.

I've had a version of the TrackIR for the last 8 years or so and I wouldn't fly without it either. For me, it is a must! It's like flying without a HOTAS.

Yep, its like crack. Once your on it, you can't get off.

Seriously though. I find my situational awareness goes way up simply because I'm not moving another hat, I'm intuitively doing what I would normally do.

Dale

Check out Freetrack and FacetrackNoIR too. Two free alternatives

i hate the fact that i bought my trackir last year for so much money , a device from 2009 and price didnt drop a bit.

that being said, unlike other cheaper alternatives (not free, you need to buy/build hardware) the trackir simply works and works great.

i could not go back to flying without it.

Yes, it is the single biggest step forwards in flight simming. I wouldn't even attempt to fly without it now.

very accurate head tracking that always works.

It gives a real situational awareness boost.

I dont have trackir or any similar alternative like freetrack and I dont think it is must for me.

btw on the net you can find guides how to build your freetrack alternative or you can find directly people who can build it for you.

Essential simming tool.

No, TrackIR 4 works fine too.

In all seriousness though, once you've used head tracking in a sim, you can't go back without feeling frustrated by its absence. Check out freetrack or facetracknoir if you're on a tight budget, but trackir 5 works out of the box and from what I understand does a better job than the alternatives. A well worthy investment, you wont regret it.

At the risk of being attacked, I'm going to say no. It is great, but depends what you want to fly. WWII aircraft doing dogfights? Yes, probably track Ir is key. F15 sead or bvr? It becomes much less critical. A-10 depends on the mission and how much you like gauges and the tgp. I've just switched to 4k and am surprised to find trackir off and a wide zoom angle being a frequently used config lately.

it's not a huge investment, and if you are serious about simming you will get one sooner or later. If you are afraid dcs is unplayable without one, I say no.

A must? No.

Unbelievably useful? Yes.

It's kind of like owning a car in a major city.

Do you absolutely need one? Nope - you can actually do everything just using public transit. It's just 20x harder.

Same with TrackIR (or any other head tracking system) and DCS.

The only thing that could make me give up TrackIR is a version of the Oculus Rift that was good enough to read instruments and spot targets.

That's a good analogy. Except in Manhattan where a car is a liability! :)

But even today, after using Rift, you realize how limiting TrackIR is. It's like everything else, I suppose; once you upgrade to the "next higher model" there's just no going back!

hsb

Hey there! This is finally my first post.

I also thought about buying TrackIR but wasn't sure because I wanted to wait for the RIFT.

When I was looking for a low budget alternative I stumbled over opentrack, which seems to

have massively progressed over the past few months so I gave it a try. I'm using it for a

week now and it works great. Definitely not going to buy TrackIR anymore.

My configuration consists of an old Samsung Galaxy SII smart phone strapped to my

Headset which is in flight mode and connected to my system via USB. Bluetooth or WiFi

would also be possible but for connectivity and meltin-my-brain-with-radiation reasons I

chose USB.

Even though it may not be as sophisticated as TrackIR it's for free and worth a try.

If anyone needs help configuring it or needs a profile feel free to ask me.

Here is the tutorial I followed to set it up: (It's not me in the video)

https://github.com/opentrack/opentrack/wiki/Smartphone-Headtracking

i have built some controllers and switch boxes, but i can never get into trackIR.

i worked with both the PS3eye with facetracknoIR and trackIR4.

as many times i tried to get use to it, i cant. i need 1:1 for one translation.

i tried many curves and profile, and i do know whats going on when i change the tracking tables, i just find it so unnatural, dont like it.

i will wait for the oculus rift.

in the mean time, i am trying to sell my trackIR 4.

Bought mine when IL2 first came out. 2002 IIRC. I would sooner fly with a keyboard and mouse than go back to not using track IR:)

I've been using FTNoIR for a while now. At first I was using only face tracking with webcam app on my smartphone. I was blown away at the accuracy. Occasionally it would lose track, setup was a hassle and having a beard or any facial hair ruins the face detection. So, I went out and bought a PS3 Eye Toy. Using face-tracking the PS3 camera was actually worse than the smartphone webcam app. I decided to give IR a shot and Macgyver my own 3-point IR tracker for less than 10 dollars in parts from radio shack. Even with 940nm IR LED's the tracking was basically impossible due to the IR filter in the PS3 camera. (at least on my version)

Moving forward, I decided to remove the IR filter from the camera. After a frustrating few hours I had the filter removed and had the camera reassembled. Not a single spec of dirt on the imager! I picked up my IR tracker, aimed it at the camera and... the image looked like a glaucoma patient's vision. It was extremely washed out, distorted, and totally useless for tracking anything.

Upon further inspection I realized the focal point of the camera had shifted, by a huge amount. The image would focus crystal clear, only approximately 3 inches from the lens. Googling turned up some pretty insane countermeasures and most insisted it was a lost cause. After deep meditation, I realized that the removal of the IR filter had upset the focal length and the solution was simple. Either move the lense assembly forward or backward from the imager. Reluctantly, I disassembled the camera again but left it plugged into the computer. I tried shimming the lense slightly outward and realized the focal point was only getting closer. So, I grabbed a piece of 800 grit sand paper and very, very cautiously sanded the base of the lense housing, frequently checking the focal point. It didn't require much sanding at all and voila! It was fixed, objects on the other side of my room were in focus. Now I could finally try my IR tracker that had been collecting dust.

Honestly, there is no comparison. Point tracking is incredible. Face Tracking is very impressive and will preview the feeling of immersion and added SA. Unfortunately, without stereoscopic cameras, face-tracking can't hold a match to IR point tracking. It is extremely intuitive, you look in the direction you want and thats it. It's like trying to convince someone in the not too distant past why they need the internet or a smartphone. Until you try it, you'll never understand.

For me, I couldn't play without it.

It can be used in a large range of simulation games and I am happy with the purchase price considering how much usage I will continue to have with it.

The immersion you get by being able to move your head and look around the cockpit is unlike any other.

The only thing that will trump it in the future will be the occulus rift virtual reality glasses.

TrackIR is -- simply put -- amazing. I only recently got myself one, and I have to say it was a huge eye-opener and huge paradigm shift from using other means of looking around the cockpit. :)

So yes, get one. You won't regret it.

Got mine just a few days ago, it went like this:

unpack - plug in - play - JAW DROP !!!!!

Not even 5 minutes from unpacking to calling the dentist :)

Bit

it's true, trackIR isn't natural feeling, but is looking around with a HAT switch how you look around naturally in real life?

after you've gotten used to trackIR, its the most important input device you'll have, situational awareness is, next to speed, life.

I have an oculus rift, and trackIR is easier to look around with than looking around the way you do in real life....

it's like... what's easier to do? if you could move your head 18 degrees to look behind you (trackIR) or had to move it 180 degrees like an owl to look behind you (oculus rift)?

As someone who also recently aquired one, TrackIR is by far the best peripheral I have used for simming. Yes, I would put it even above the joystick. Im still getting used to it, one thing I have to get to grips with and start using is the pause button. It's much more practical in a full DCS module where you frequently have to concentrate on different panels and switches, and 'pause' is much more forgiving on my poor neck :)

So yes. TrackIR == Must have device.

I couldn't go back to playing without head tracking.. no no no no no no...

I built my own (spent loads on other DCS imrovements b4 xmas) and while it probably isn't as stable as an out of the box TIR, it works well enough for me.

Like a lot of people, I'm waiting on the Rift.