iRacing in VR

[James Duerr]

My son picked up a Meta Quest 2 headset a week or two ago. We are going to hook it up to my rig this weekend when he is off work and do some testing.
I've been considering new larger monitors, but he got this new headset and I am going to try it out before dropping the money on 3-1440p screens...
So to all the VR guys, tips, tricks, advise???

 

[Miguel Fonseca]

Don't spend too much time with it if you're getting low FPSs, that will mess with your head and may get nausea and headache, the first thing I would do is to adjust settings to get a smooth framerate.

 

[MalcolmFoster]

I use HP Reverb G2 VR headset. Have done for over 12 months now. Could never go back to monitors.
I felt a little of the nausea at first but now nothing, I love it.
To get the best FPS use Open XR to run it.

Upscaling

OpenXR Toolkit

mbucchia.github.io

 

[AustinLHarris]

Post your computer specs and we could recommend a good starting point for graphics. Vr does come with some need to tinker with settings to get working smoothly. A good FPS to go for is 90hz, better than 60hz but not as intensive as 120/144hz. Frame rate consistency is the most crucial stat to watch though, Vr is amazing and definitely gets the best of your brain and you will notice a couple dropped frames which will cause you at worst nausea or at best just distract you like it does me.

 

[James Duerr]

i5 9600k, 32gb and a 3060

 

[DVR 88]

A couple of things. I use the Quest 2 and it’s pretty simple with Iracing to get going. You will need to adjust a couple of things with your PC, to get the frame rate you’ll want. I have mine set with Quest at 1.4 pixel display, and then most of the iracing settings set to medium or off (and a couple of other tweaks). In this way I get the constant 90fps which is most important. In terms of immersion vs monitors, it’s far superior, however, assumptions are that it works correctly, and you don’t have issues with motion sickness and all that. The primary limitation will be with your CPU, but you should be ok to run it smoothly. Just know that some of the detail (roadside objects, shadowing etc) will slow down the fps and you’ll need to turn off. I’ve been using the Q2 for almost two years.

 

[James Duerr]

A couple of things. I use the Quest 2 and it’s pretty simple with Iracing to get going. You will need to adjust a couple of things with your PC, to get the frame rate you’ll want. I have mine set with Quest at 1.4 pixel display, and then most of the iracing settings set to medium or off (and a couple of other tweaks). In this way I get the constant 90fps which is most important. In terms of immersion vs monitors, it’s far superior, however, assumptions are that it works correctly, and you don’t have issues with motion sickness and all that. The primary limitation will be with your CPU, but you should be ok to run it smoothly. Just know that some of the detail (roadside objects, shadowing etc) will slow down the fps and you’ll need to turn off. I’ve been using the Q2 for almost two years.

I want to understand this honestly, not being argumentative so don't read into it.
From everything I have read, I understood that iRacing only used two cores. When I last upgraded this PC I chose the i5 because I assumed 6 cores were plenty and i7, or i9 purely for iRacing would be complete overkill. But you aren't the first to point out that this cpu may not be enough to run iRacing optimally. So was my information flawed, or...?
Help me understand.

 

[Milenko]

I'm going to be testing iRacing in VR this weekend, or sometime soon. I'm hoping its much better than using a large single monitor, but not sure how well it will work with streaming as well.

But to answer the question about the i5 vs i7 or i9, there are differences in processors in the same generation other than core count. For example, if you compare your 9600 to a 9700, the 9700 has a higher boost frequency and more L3 cache. While that may make a difference in performace, it will only be minuscule. But the difference from a 9600 to a 13600 is pretty huge.

 

[AndreTechno]

I start iracing about 2/3 month ago straight in VR. I have a laptop (i7-11370H, 16GB, RTX3070), quest 2, and I am actually using virtual desktop as I purchased the app last year.
Actually, I did not spent a lot of time to work on that, I definitively prefer to racing then try to find time (that unfortunately it is what it is) to set it perfectly as my needs.
However, I start with 35fps. I know that it is very low, but for me worked just fine. Now I reduce the numbers of cars in the mirrors and I jumped to 70fps, but some time they drop to 35fps, so definitively more work needs to be done, but man... I love it!
I tried just 1 time to use a monitor.... If I have to racing with monitors, I would not do it anymore.

Keep us updated with your experience!

 

[DVR 88]

I want to understand this honestly, not being argumentative so don't read into it.
From everything I have read, I understood that iRacing only used two cores. When I last upgraded this PC I chose the i5 because I assumed 6 cores were plenty and i7, or i9 purely for iRacing would be complete overkill. But you aren't the first to point out that this cpu may not be enough to run iRacing optimally. So was my information flawed, or...?
Help me understand.

I had an i5-9300 and went to an i9-11900k. The performance really didn’t change too much. As far as the cores and all that, my understanding is that iracing like most games uses a single thread, and that it’s not unusual. I think it’s more related to the older graphics engine that iracing uses, compared to newer sims. I think the new ones take advantage of what the processors can do today, where iracing cant. Which is why the graphics are older looking. Again as I understand it. I’m running a 3060 graphics card, have the oculus set to 1.5 pixel density, run open xr toolkit with the iracing default for that, and have the oculus tool tray set to a FOV of .82. A few adjustments to the iracing graphics and I get a stable 90fps, full field. It’s taken a year or so of tweaking to get it that way, but I think it works pretty good. On another note, per iracing my limitation appears to be the cpu (the meters say that), so upgrading to a better graphics card may help, but I’m ultimately cpu locked for now. Honestly though, happy with the way it works. Next upgrade will be 4090, new cpu and at the same time a better VR headset, but it seems like that will all be one shot. Kinda expensive.

 

[James Duerr]

I do appreciate all the input, and with the comment here and from some others I race with questioning if my CPU is going to cut it I decided to just upgrade monitors. Caught a deal on 27" 144hz screens. My Pc runs 1080 well. Very good, so I didn't go with 2k, or VR. Just 144hz 1080 screens. My PC is severely lacking compared to what is available now. I get it, but I feel like it hasn't been that long since I built this PC and I am just not going to upgrade to a $750-$1000 dollar mobo, cpu and memory. Again, appreciate the input. Probably saved me hours of frustration and hundreds of dollars trying to get VR to my liking. So I am sticking with 1080p for now, with an increase in size and the ASUS bezel free kit I have never been so happy with the rig. Ran Atlanta Wednesday and was blown away by the difference between the new screens, the mount I bought for my rig 18 months ago VS the 24" screens on a sagging triple stand. It's night and day. I am good! Thanks fellas.

 

[James Duerr]

. Kinda expensive.

Worse than drugs, more addictive too!

 

[Stacy Hunter]

Glad to hear that you are happy with your rig James. I upgraded to (3) 27" monitors as well.. I contemplated VR but just heard too many negatives and decided against it.

 

[DVR 88]

Glad to hear James! VR is some work no doubt! But the important thing, is you’re happy with the way your setup works. All that matters!