There was a time when owning a racing wheel and a set of pedals was the ultimate in simulating the experience of driving a race car from the comfort of your living room. Now, thanks to the advent of commercial virtual reality headsets, racing fans can go even further when it comes to their hardware.
Earlier this week, YouTube user machkun1 shared a video of his rig, and it’s fair to say that it’s a rather impressive setup. Combining an Oculus Rift headset with a motion simulator and various other racing peripherals, it’s easy to see how the hardware could heighten the experience during a virtual race day.
The intricate setup is used to make Dirt Rally an even more immersive experience, but it’s good for more than just the racing genre. Another one of machkun1’s videos demonstrates how the build can be used in Eve: Valkryie, a dogfighting spinoff of the popular interstellar MMO.
It should come as no surprise that a setup as impressive as this one was very expensive to assemble. The hardware required to build the rig is estimated to cost around $25,000, according to a report from Road to VR.
Most of that sum is related to the R-Craft Multi AXIS Motion Simulator that moves the player around in response to what’s going on in-game. It costs in the region of $20,000, but it’s difficult to deny that it provides a game-changing sense of immersion when paired with the visuals supplied by a virtual reality headset.
The majority of people will never be able to throw down $25,000 on a gaming setup like this one, as tempting as the idea might be. However, if VR arcades take off as a result of headsets being made widely available, it wouldn’t be surprising to see hardware like this made available to the public on a pay-per-play basis.
