PlayStation 4 has PS VR and now as of February 2023, PlayStation 5 has PS VR2. This headset takes the simplicity of the first PS VR and seeks to streamline everything about it while adding a multitude of features seen in the VR space since that first release. One month in and the device has seen great sales figures considering the amount of PlayStation 5’s in circulation, and with some interesting titles on the horizon, how does it stack up?
PS VR was an interesting time, its fairly simple setup was excellent but still relied on players having a PlayStation Camera, PlayStation Move controllers or an aim controller for some titles as well as having a junction box for plugging in the headset itself. It then only had a small number of adjustments that could be made to the display, meaning some users never could see very clearly, which, paired with a limited resolution and framerate it could be blurry or sickness inducing.
PS VR2 has set out to solve a lot of these previous issues; gone is the junction box, now the headset uses a single USB-C cable to connect to the front of the PlayStation 5. There is no need for a camera as the headset has them built in and bundled with the device is a set of Sense controllers that offer much more depth of control than possible on the last system. So, first impressions are very positive.
The price point of £500+ may be a sticking point for many players as it costs more than the PlayStation 5 itself, however comparing the feature set of the PS VR2 with more expensive PC VR setups, it’s suddenly a very reasonable price indeed. Especially when factoring in that the PS5 will play the games and investment in an expensive PC is not necessary. In terms of options, players can buy it bundled with Horizon: Call of the Mountain, Sony’s own contribution to VR2 that is a showcase of all the new features. It also includes all necessary hardware to hop into any game.
Let’s talk about features. Unlike the first VR headset there is a 4k resolution per eye with an expanded FOV, making the games feel more immersive. The camera on the headset can be used to track the controllers, set up a play space in the room (more on this later) and can offer passthrough, allowing at the tap of a button for players to see where they are in the room very easily. There is also haptic feedback in the headset and controllers, meaning that certain things can be coded to rumble, shake and vibrate at various points, giving physical feedback to the player. The controllers have finger sense, meaning that players can adjust the in-game hands by simply having their fingers resting on or around the controller, offering up some minutia and fine grain control. They also offer the same adaptive triggers as the DualSense controllers so games can adjust resistance on the fly, allowing for a greater sense of control.
Using the play space setup, players can define a space in their room that is a 3D area they can move around in. For example, if playing Job Simulator, which offers a free PS VR2 upgrade, the play space will have the interactive objects spaced around it, allowing for free movement. The PS VR2 will throw up visual indicators if a player is at risk of leaving the play area, meaning it’s pretty safe. This is also the feature that made this reviewer experience the idea of leaning on an object in the game by accident for the first time, something that PS VR1 was never immersive enough to incur.
The last major feature to discuss is eye tracking. This is used to great effect in some games right down to things happening if the player blinks. For example, Horizon uses eye tracking or “Gaze tracking” to navigate menus which feels extremely intuitive and, while they don’t mention it, this reviewer believes the gaze tracking affect where arrows go when fired, as staring at a target and firing just a little off often sees the arrow nail the target perfectly. It feels great in practice. For horror games this could be a killer feature.
One of the major downsides is that adjusting the pupil distance is done with one physical slider. Having one per eye would be better as this reviewer has a very slight squint, so only one eye is ever crystal clear. The OLED lenses are great for brightness, clarity and colour but suffer from Mura, where a stippled pattern appears across the entire image that can be ignored in most titles, especially when taking action, but once noticed it’s hard to ignore.
