Frequently Asked Questions

Why wear a VR headset during a real ride at all?

By putting a VR ride on a real roller coaster, for the very first time, you can experience real airtime, real drops, intense g-forces and moments of zero gravity in a simulated world! Needless to say that VR allows for many amazing things that would never be possible in the real world - like riding a flying dragon or taking part in a space battle. But a normal simulator ride wouldn't be able to provide this kind of continuous forces and floating airtime experiences.
Also, VR can make rides much larger, taller and faster than the real track. Heights can be increased or even reduced for people who are afraid of heights. Actually, VR can eliminate the most common factor that causes fear and insecurity, namely the classic vertigo while being pulled up the coaster's lifthill. Why not simulate green hills next to the virtual car, like riding a "ground coaster" ?
Last but not least, you can tell a story in the virtual world and surprise the riders with things that couldn't be built in a normal dark ride theming.

 

Don't you get motion sick when wearing a VR headset while riding a real rollercoaster?

Not at all, as long as you have precise synchronization to the real ride. This is because you're not only watching 3D movement, but your inner sense of balance actually feels the real movement. Even people who are actually afraid of rollercoasters or tend to get motion sick had no problems when going on a VR Coaster Ride.
Most of all, these rides feel much more comfortable than riding a virtual reality roller coaster at home in front of your desktop.

 

Don't the inertial sensors fail under such extreme g-forces?

No, it turned out that they keep working totally precise throughout the entire ride.

 

Aren't you afraid of a headset falling off during a ride?

Actually, we noticed that on most coasters, the forces aren't strong enough to pull the Headset off. Still, we provide special custom-made chin straps that make sure the headsets stay tight.

 

Why not use cable-bound Headsets like the Oculus Rift or the HTC Vive?

Aside from the fact that cable-bound Headsets on a coaster ride would be a serious safety issue, these would also require full-scale PCs for every seat which would have to travel with the coaster train. These CG-generating PCs would quickly break due to the continuous vibrations, not to mention the much higher maintenance and equipment costs.

However, our "HybridVR" graphics technology allows for an amazing VR quality level on the Pico G2 mobile headset platform, thanks to the unique combination of 4K stereo pre-rendered footage at 60 fps and realtime 3D graphics - thus rendering state-of-the-art visuals even on mobile hardware.