Oculus Rift Development Kit 2 Quick Look

iRacing

We had the most fun with iRacing as it now has native support for the DK2. It was easy to set up and apart from a couple of niggles, it gave a very good VR experience.

Chromatic aberration was at a minimum and frame rate was good. All round, it was excellent.

Battlefield 4

Battlefield 4 didn’t work, in any way. We don’t expect support, they seem to have bigger issues and with Hardline just around the corner, we probably won’t see it any time soon.

This maybe down to some hardcore enthusiast cracking some code, and we would love it if they did.

Alien Isolation

Probably one of the best immersive experiences with the DK2, and another game with support, albeit via a back door. The particle effects and the lighting are second to none, and the DK2 really shows an open door to the future. We enjoyed this the most of the First Person shooter games and it was our party piece when demonstrating the technology.

Chromatic aberration was at a minimum, except in the menus, where it was very apparent.

More please!

Autosport Grid

This is an odd one. Codemasters include DK2 support, but when we tested it we had a mixed experience. Yes, it worked, but the cockpit views and some of the menus were not up to the task.

It was a bit frustrating, but we are glad a mainstream software house are including DK2 support.

Chromatic aberration wasn’t too bad giving a mixed bag all around.

Assetto Corsa

Probably the most frustrating supported game we tested. When it worked it looked and felt amazing, truly an immersive experience. It didn’t work that much however.

Arma 3

The Arma series has a massive following of fans and quite a few have DK2’s up and running, including us. It was a very good experience and gave a very moody  and enjoyable gaming experience.

Chromatic aberration was at a minimum, excellent all round.

Elite Dangerous

Probably the second most frustrating supported game we tested.  It is supported and there are many online videos helping users, including us, to get this set up.

Chromatic aberration was high, and in the menus the text was almost unreadable. Lean forward and everything becomes clearer, but still a bit of an annoyance.

In the dark of space, lit objects look incredible and the size and scale of the space stations was uncanny. We truly felt we could have been in some sort of spacecraft or high spec simulator.

Round Up

Compatibility is the biggest issue here and harks back to Windows 98 days when pretty much no hardware would work without a fully tested and supported driver. That’s not a problem, and it is our fault, we tested games we knew are not supported just to test what would happen.

With that said, this is a really frustrating development kit just now, and that was expected. It was an eye opener when the DK2 worked, and it was hard to let go when it didn’t. The best driving experience was iRacing open cockpit action. This was sensational, truly. The best FPS was Alien Isolation, this also was truly sensational.

The rest were hit and miss, but again, that’s ok and was expected.

Conclusion

So far, amazing and completely disappointing, how can it be both? Well it is really down to the dream of VR. We have been promised VR for around 30 years, and when we first tested the DK2 it wasn’t altogether the best experience.

It took a lot of set up and reading and that kinda put a dark cloud over the DK2 experience. With that said, it’s a development kit, and you absolutely cannot embark on this journey expecting this to be a completed consumer product.

Why was it amazing? We got a glimpse of the future, and it is not too far away. The Oculus Rift Crescent Bay sample, or DK3,  hasn’t been released for testing, and we are not sure it will be. Oculus seem to be gearing up for a consumer release this year and with the feedback of the DK3, and the foundation of the DK2, 2016 will be a very anti social year for most gamers.

What’s next? Well we have been waiting to test on Windows 10, DX12 and a compatible game. Nothing yet but we are constantly testing, so stay with us, we could have something very special very soon.