[Skybird]

Time for a brief review, just in case any other updaters read here.

I run an i7 8700K with 32GB, and a GFX-1080TI (factory OC, 11 GB). Bought in autumn 2017, together with the Oculus Rift of that time.

Mind you, the Oculus Rift has a resolution of 1080x1200 per eye. The G2 Reverb has a resolution of 2160x2160 per eye. That is a hefty much more in pixel loads that have to be calculated. Any concerns about getting stuttering when not also upgrading 4-5 year old PC and gfx hardware, are valid and understandable.

At "simple" titles like Google Earth VR, A-10 VR, Katana X, Derail Valley, Eleven Table Tennis and Pinball FX2 VR, it just does not matter, at highest resolution there is just smoothness, no stuttering, far deeper-reaching depth of view and the obvious absence of the feared screendoor effect (the mosquito mesh you see in older headsets). God rays are also almost completely absent. Contrast and colours is at least as good, I think even better. Compared to the Rift, its almost new ball game!

Now the challenging titles: racing sims. Especially the new ones are well-known notorious hogs on hardware, and here especially the G2 has a reputation to also be the hog of hogs.

I first tested with Dirt Rally 2. I had to slightly reduce ingame graphics options, and in dense forests with plenty of trees close by I have a very mild ghostign effect when turning sharply in tight 90° turns and hairpins, thats all. I get better resolution and black colours at night. The overall experience is better, you see more from the world, the sky, the clouds. Passed!



Next, European Truck Simulator 2. Oh that dramatically imporoved immersion! The betgter textures in the beautifully rendered skies! The visible traffic signs that actually can be red form a disdtance now! Its all fanfares and vivid flags in the stormx wind, its great. A very, ver ymild ghosting when you look 90° to the left and right, havign items there moving by very fast. Usually youz look forward when riding on the Autbahn, so that is a minor issue you almost never get reminded of. Passed! The ETS2 world and weather and sunsets look beautiful!


Then came Wreckfest, running in 2D on a huge 3D VR cinema screen . Higher resolution, plenty of more details to be seen, brighter images - FANTASTIC. In sharp turns and dense packs, again a very mild ghosting, nothing that irritates me. Its a feast to the eyes. Passed!

Next level, Raceroom Racing. And again I had to do just very minor options adjustements and again got a playable experience with much better depth of view and details and again a very mild ghosting only in tight, fast moving turns, the ghosting is visible at the horizon, not on cars close by, or buildings. I am stunned! Passed!

Now came the critical candidates, the two Assetto Corsas.

Classic AC - I did not expect it to run too well, but actually, it does run marvellously well, i did not had to tune any options, and it ran nicely "out of the box". And that with the now much more detailed display of dashboard and outside world, and longer viewing distances and no screendoor effect! It looks great! Passed!

Finally Competizione. Here is where the complications began.

When you switch from an Oculus set to a non-Oculus set, you also switch from the Oculus VR-interface to the the Open VR/Steam VR interface. And ACC seems to hate openVR, I am not the first who ran into troubles. In Oculus VR, the Rift worked nicely, but the same low-res Rift headset in Open VR already stuttered like hell. But the G2 in Open VR (does not work in Oculus VR, obviously) declared immediate war on me: 2 fps and a latency of 1-2 seconds spoke volumes. It was a desaster. Reducing options in game and in nVidia driver and in Steam VR interface, also reducing resolution in Steam VR to that of the Rift, almost, all that did not help. Not before I tested 9 different nVidia drivers and finally found an older 45x.xx one, I managed to get it running, at drastically reduced resolution. The image in the G2 in ACC now is as good or bad as that I got in the Rift, and the resolution is as low, but the title is playable, and that is what I hoped for. As I said, ACC is a hardware hog, a real mean pig for any computer system, I hoped for and did not expect to get more than just what I had in the Rift. And that is what I finally got: no gains, but then also no losses. Passed. Just so, but passed.

In FS20, another title that almost rapes the hardware, I had to reduce graphics options in general, and am limited to flying in simple planes with simple, non-complex cockpit-avionics: open cockpits and such. Small planes with "unmodern" avionics. Then it indeed is great. Well, in FS2020 I could not expect more than what i now get. Honestly said I am surprised that my 1080TI and the G2 can even get FS20 running at all.

So, in a summary: almost all titles I play in VR with the Rift do not just run in the new headset as well, but - sometimes more sometimes less expected - benefit from it, even the more demanding racing sims. Its all gains and plusses, until ACC, where I at least managed to maintain the status from the Oculus Rift, so while there are no gains, there also are no losses in ACC's case, and playability assured. In FS20, I had to trade visual details for playability, but that is not really surprising for me. Heck - its a GT-1080TI only, and it needs to push 3.6 times as many pixels as before!

I like the new headset. It wears more comfortably, and needs no external sensors, but the controllers are bigger, and feel less quality-like. However, they work, but because the tracking is done by headset's own cameras and not external sensors, you need correct light conditions in the room and the headset must "see" the sticks. I can play table tennis with it, but learned to change hand position and hold the hand accentuated before my body, to make sure the helmet sees them. Thats a difference to the Rift, the Rift system is more complex a setup, more cables and connectors, but regarding tracking of handpieces it works a bit better. In cockpit of cars however, this is irrelevant.

I bought the bundle of helmet and two grips for 500 coins, which is 150-250 less than what it usually costs over here. I am satisfied and actually quite happy with the improved visual quality. The resolution is, roughly rounded, twice as high for every axis. that really makes a huge difference!

The viewing angle, btw, is 4° more than the Rift, so practically the same. Pimax headsets have wider viewing fields, but then costs a while lot more and are not as comfortable to wear, I read, also image quality is not as good. In genertla the G2 is the by far sharpoest resolitiuon, but also one of the headset with the most narrow viewing field. It means no change for me, since I am familiar to it from the Rift.

The G2must be placed on your head with precision, the sweetspot is a bit small. Once you found it, its very sharp. The set does not move. It wears better than the Rift.

The sound is better than I expected after the bad reviews I red. Actually, I find it very good. No complaints from me.

I read that not rarely customers using AMD-based chipsets ran into troubles with the headste not beign recongised. It seems to be an issue with the default cable, HP provides an improved new cable for such customers contacting them. Whether the HP service is working good and fast I cannot tell you, but I know that many people hate their printers. If you own a motherboard with AMD chipsets, its your call.

With 500 coins (where available for that price), the G2 is one of the most competitive price offers on the market currently. You can spend easily three times as much.