You’re absolutely right that is a major problem. The biggest reason is the mismatch between what your inner ear says (we are not moving) and what your eyes tell you (we are moving). I get nauseous really easily in VR.
That said I just bought a steam frame and have had pretty good luck because of how I’m using it. It’s completely wireless and I have a large space I can use it in. So I’ve been playing things that don’t require fast movement and where you have a space to explore / move around in. This allows me to physically walk around the real room while exploring in VR. It’s made a huge difference but not everyone has the luxury of a big empty room they can use for that. I just mention this in case anyone else was like me and wants to do VR but gets nauseous easily.
I have the reverse issue - i have absolutely no problems with my eyes saying something’s moving and my inner ear says i am stationary as in VR, but put me in the back seat of a car without the option to focus a far away point with my eyes and i get travel sick in a few minutes (some driving styles exacerbate the problem - aggressive stop and go in city traffic makes me puke in about 15 minutes with no way to avoid it - when an acquaintance of mine drove me home i actually made him stop after about 10 minutes so i could empty my stomach into the gutter).
I’ve found an acid test for susceptibility to VR sickness. Driving in VR.
Most brains know what it feels like to be in a car, in control or otherwise. Feed in only the visuals of “being in a car” and watch the face turn green in tandem with the brain’s ancient “we’ve eaten poison!” subroutine kicking in.
In Elite: Dangerous, I can pirouette a Vulture round an asteroid field -permaboosting with flight assist off- shooting other ships all day long. Drop an SRV onto a moon and drive 100 metres, pass me the sick bucket.
I put this down to having plenty sensory memory of “car” but none of “high velocity space fighter”.
You’re absolutely right that is a major problem. The biggest reason is the mismatch between what your inner ear says (we are not moving) and what your eyes tell you (we are moving). I get nauseous really easily in VR.
That said I just bought a steam frame and have had pretty good luck because of how I’m using it. It’s completely wireless and I have a large space I can use it in. So I’ve been playing things that don’t require fast movement and where you have a space to explore / move around in. This allows me to physically walk around the real room while exploring in VR. It’s made a huge difference but not everyone has the luxury of a big empty room they can use for that. I just mention this in case anyone else was like me and wants to do VR but gets nauseous easily.
I have the reverse issue - i have absolutely no problems with my eyes saying something’s moving and my inner ear says i am stationary as in VR, but put me in the back seat of a car without the option to focus a far away point with my eyes and i get travel sick in a few minutes (some driving styles exacerbate the problem - aggressive stop and go in city traffic makes me puke in about 15 minutes with no way to avoid it - when an acquaintance of mine drove me home i actually made him stop after about 10 minutes so i could empty my stomach into the gutter).
I’ve found an acid test for susceptibility to VR sickness. Driving in VR.
Most brains know what it feels like to be in a car, in control or otherwise. Feed in only the visuals of “being in a car” and watch the face turn green in tandem with the brain’s ancient “we’ve eaten poison!” subroutine kicking in.
In Elite: Dangerous, I can pirouette a Vulture round an asteroid field -permaboosting with flight assist off- shooting other ships all day long. Drop an SRV onto a moon and drive 100 metres, pass me the sick bucket.
I put this down to having plenty sensory memory of “car” but none of “high velocity space fighter”.