F-14 in VR with Leap Motion controller?

So I've been looking into VR for the immersion factor or getting new monitors in general and then the Oculus Rift S was announced with better screen resolution and not needing lighthouse for room scaling for $400ish and I kind of want it.

My questions are what is it like playing DCS World with the F-14 in VR? Is it worth it? Does the air frame look even more amazing in VR vs the 2D that I am using now? What VR head set are you all playing with? Is it better to get the HTC Vibe, Pimax 5K or 8K, Oculus Rift S, or wait? Does anyone play with the Leap Motion hand controller to flip the switches and so on?

My computer spec are:

Xeon E5-1680 V2 overclocked to 4.2 Ghz at 58 degrees on water

Asus Rampage IV Black Edition with 64 GB of Corsair Vengeance Pro DDR3 at 2400Mhz

Crucial SSD for my boot drive and DCS World Drive

EVGA 1080 Ti Black with mild overclock

Dual Monitors right now both at 1080p 60Hz (so VR can't be any worse then what I'm using now)

I am running Windows 7 (Viva the Resistance), but would upgrade in the near future to Windows 10 Pro for VR and the fact that Windows 7 is at end of support from Microsoft in 2020.

I've been playing flight sims for the better part of 20 years, started DCS back in 2014, and really got into it with the F/A-18C's release to early access. I was using TrackIR for that, with a triple monitor setup that wraps around at nearly 130 degrees. I thought I was set and VR wouldn't add anything.

This Christmas I got my wife a Samsung Odyssey+ when they had them on sale for $200 off (she's an avid gamer). I decided one day in January to try out DCS with the headset. I don't think I could go back now, even with my three monitors and mfd screens. The feeling of immersion is quite impressive as you feel the cockpit is around you.

I should point out that its not perfect. Gauges and displays/mfds will be harder to read from your normal seated position. Of course the perk is that you can lean in relatively easy to read, or bind a key for VR Zoom. Spotting enemy targets can also be a bit harder, but once you have eyes on, it's easier to track them.

Now of course this all requires a bit of PC horsepower. Don't expect to have your graphics up as high as they are in 2D. The immersion feeling does make up for it, at least to me. Just for comparison I'm running a i7-8700k at 5.1 Ghz (watercooled of course), ASUS ROG Strix Z370-E, 32gb of DDR4 RAM, and a SSD, and a MSI Aero GTX 1080TI. No issues with the graphics down a slight notch from 2D. I do not play with hand controllers, but I have a TM Warthog setup, plus three TM cougar MFDs mounted with quick reach of the HOTAS.

Be warned though to take it easy first couple times you fly with VR. If you're not used to it, you can induce some motion sickness, so best to do it in short sessions at first. If I invite guests to try it, they usually are good after 15-20 minutes. I'm good with 2+ hours long sessions but I think I had an advantage from experience with sims while in the Army. Hope that helps!

My System:

I5 Processor

16GB Ram

Geforce 970 GTX

SSD Harddrive.

Using an Acer Windoelws Mixed Reality Heatset.

I play on VR Settings + large visible area + heatblurring. Dont have performance issues.

And the F14 is just a blast. Only in VR you really understand how big that airplane is.

Been flight simming for 20+ years, I remember I used to dogfight in Falcon 4.0 using the Padlock and Glance Forward commands because I didn't even have TrackIr.

Been using VR (Rift - pc sys specs in sig) for a while now, and yes - it is amazing in flight sims (and race sims). Having the whole world around you in 1:1 scale, and actually 'sitting in' the cockpit of your fav jet (F-14 for me!) is really something special. Despite the limitations of res/pc power etc. there is no way I would go back to flat screens...ever! I will def be upgrading to the 'S' Rift.

My first few weeks using VR I had some motion sickness tablets handy, and yes I needed them - but mostly for the walking FPS titles. Never felt sick in a flight sim while dogfighting. It is quite cool actually as you develop techniques to maintain visual of a/c on your six etc. I find scooching down in my sim-rig seat and looking right over my head works, and you also fly opposite handed on the stick quite often too as you use your main hand to hold seat to pull yourself around to check over your shoulder.

Yes you struggle with the resolution - that is the main thing I would like to see improved - but seriously, you just forget about it and enjoy the experience! The good thing is - VR is only getting better.

Thanks VampireNZ, Larkis, and HokieRob for the feed back it sounds like it is going to make the F-14 even more amazing! I think I am going to get the Rift S when it comes out.

My other question is does anyone have any experience with the Leap Motion hand and finger tracker in DCS? Does it work in DCS? It is some really cool tech that I have been following for years, but don't have any first hand experience. For those who don't know the Leap Motion tracks both your hands and all your fingers in 3 dimensional space so you can flip switches and such.

Leap Motion

We have a VR forum.

It wont look as nice as 2d by any strech, especially with a rift-s. But it will be much more immersive.

Afaik leap motion doesnt work in dcs. Best you can get in rhe near future are pointcontrol units sold by milesD.

Just to give a different opinion on VR.

I've tried both the Rift and the Vive (couple of days each). And to me the spacial effect was extremely nice at start. But I couldn't get used to the lowres and couldn't read gauges and such. So I´m back at flying on a 50 inch 4K TV.

Price, tunnelvision, difficult of use all was worth it... it was just that low res.

VR can be stunning, even with the limitations of the first gen headsets (reallllyyyy hoping for something special from Valve) - racing sims have been insane with my Fanatec wheels/pedals and Rift CV1 - but I think DCS could be a bit of a nightmare without proper VR gloves (even with TM Warthog HOTAS, I still have a lot of functions bound to the keyboard). Multiple companies are working on them - at least half a dozen of which I know - but I don't think we're going to see any at the consumer level any time soon.

The sad reality is that VR, driven by lack of adoption by gamers, is having to pivot as a whole toward enterprise in order to remain profitable.

For the industry, it's not even "Winter is Coming;" it's "Winter is Upon Us."

Update:

Well I did it, I bought an Oculus Rift S last week and I love it. The only problems I have had was with the Asmedia USB 3.0 controller, I should have done a bit more research on it and my wife wanting to play Beat Saber all the time. For the USB 3.0 problem I ended up just buying an Inateck 4 port USB 3.0 PCIe card that was recommended on the Rift forums.

I'm still playing with the setting and if anyone has any recommendations to maximize graphic and performance I would love the help. I have not noticed any motion sickness, but my eyes do get tired after a hour or so.

So far flying the F-14 Tomcat has been amazing and with Voice Attack and VR it's as real as I will ever get to flying the Tomcat. It makes me want to build a standalone cockpit for the Tomcat so I don't have to use the controllers to use my hands in VR.

I also picked up a Leap Motion setup off of eBay today so I am going to start playing with that as well. Maybe I can ditch the controllers and make life a bit easier in game.

Specs of my computer as of August 2019:

CPU: Xeon E5-1680 V2 8 core running at 4.4GHz (still running water 68 degrees under load now)

Motherboard: Asus Rampage IV Black Edition

Memory: 64GB of Corsair Vengeance Pro DD3 2400Mhz

GPU: EVGA 1080 Ti Black mild overclocks

Storage: Crucial SSD for both boot drive and DCS drive

OS: Windows 10

I recommend you look into Trackball and a kneeboard as an option for controls.

I got a 35$ trackball and 11$ kneeboard and I'm uesing that most of the time. however, left handed trackball operation is something you have to dial in your brain. I still take my hand off the stick to the mouse on the right side. (have both)

I've been playing DCS in VR ever since it was an option. VR is really the only way to play flight sims that need immersion, as it gives you a subconscious feeling of the environment (as long as the physical modeling in-game is good enough).

You don't necessarily feel it in jets, but in helicopters it is shocking, in a great way. In VR you feel the machine like you never could with a 3-screen display in 8k, even with the first gen VR rigs. I have an ancient mildly overclocked 4Ghz/980i with medium settings but could never go back to a screen when flying helos or piloting a plane.

On the other hand, playing RIO is a different ball game. The amount of technical work you have to do is something a hi-res screen is better suited for.

im struggling for decent fps with my index,

system is 7700k at 5ghz

32gb 3ghz ram

gtx1080 with mild overclock

i struggle to hit 30 fps even at low settings

someone knows why leap motion hands interractions aren't supported by heatblur and the F14? what a pity, specialy for the RIO...

Probably because they don’t own a set. Same as how Force Feedback support was stalled for a while because they didn’t have a working FFB stick for a while.

I’m sure they would love if someone sent them a set to develop with.