October 07, 2024
I recently purchased a PlayStation VR and it's really exceeded my expectations. It's the best VR experience I've had so far (I've used all of the commercially available VR headsets). Primarily because of the games and comfort.
Games: this is by far the biggest advantage that the PlayStation VR has over the other VR systems. I tried a bunch of games included with the launch bundle, and they were actually fun! Too many of the experiences in other VR headsets are slightly expanded tech demos, often with sloppy textures and shallow gameplay, while PSVR games I would actually play again.
One of the things I really liked here was the inclusion of party games where one player is in VR and the others are playing on the TV.
Comfort: the PlayStation VR is very comfortable to wear. The headset is counterweighted with the band in the back, so there's little pressure on the front of your head. All the games I've played have been very good about maintaining a consistently high framerate too, likely because Sony is screening all of the games before release.
The “processing unit” also does a 120hz reprojection of lower framerate inputs by doing transforms on the output image to track head movement. Other headsets also do this, Oculus has a good explanation of how it works here: Asynchronous Timewarp Examined. I also find I get less motion sick when using PS VR than I do with other systems, but that may just be that I've gotten more used to it.
Tracking: I've heard that other people have run into issues with tracking, but for me, it's performed really well. Many of the games I've played support moving your perspective around the game world by walking around your room, which is great for immersion. This is called “Room-Scale" VR, and I think it's essential to a good VR experience (right now the Vive supports this, and the Rift will soon).
Display: the PS VR uses a 1080p screen with a 120Hz refresh rate, which is a lower resolution than the Vive or Rift, but has a higher refresh rate. I've found that the PS VR seems to look a little less detailed than the Vive or Rift, but does not suffer from the “screen door” effect as much. It's possible the lower detail is due to the graphics capability of the PS4 itself and will be improved significantly with the PS4 Pro. I've seen some claims that the lack of a screen door effect is because the PS VR uses a full RGB display as opposed to a pentile display used by the Rift and Vive. Pentile displays use alternating red and blue lights, so there are fewer lights (OLEDs) for every pixel on the screen. This is fine when you're looking at the screen from far away, but may create issues when viewed only a few inches away.
In summary, I'm very happy with the PS VR. There are definitely some issues—primarily in graphics/clarity, but it's still the best overall VR experience available right now.
