TrackIR 5: How big of a difference?

[Gromit 0]

I'm contemplating a TIR5 purchase, but I'm on the fence. I was hoping some of you who have experience with TIR products might chime in and give some feedback, negative or positive.

 

The cost of it is not the issue. It's more the efficacy of the product. IOW, does it make that big of a difference to your overall simming experience? How long does it take to become adjusted to it's use? Does it cause any odd sensations(ie: queasiness)?

[zoomzoom 2]

Can't speak for Trakir, but if you wanted to try something out for less $ to see if you really like it, you might try FreeTrack. I set mine up using an old WiiMote as the Rx-Cam, and three red Led's on a baseball cap, and its pretty amazing. Had to get a blue-tooth adapter for the pc, but other than that its pretty cheap and effective.

 

ZZ.

 

If you already have a webcam you dont even need the adapter for blutooth.

Edited October 19, 2009 by zoomzoom

[themightysrc 5]

Hi Gromit,

 

Lovely cheese, eh....? (sorry couldn't resist!)

 

Anyway, I use TIR4 and it's transformed how I fly. Simple as that. You do what a pilot would do - you look around for friends and foes. It's reliable, quite easy to set up and doesn't seem to present any major overhead to the system.

 

The only downside I can think of is when you want to take a gulp of beer whilst flying, you end up with your gaze careering wildly round the sky for a moment (disconcerting). Otherwise it's a staggering good investment, IMHO.

 

Wait. No, there is one more downside: you look like a complete prick sat in front of a PC wearing a baseball cap that has antennae. But this is a small price to pay, unless your family are particularly sadistic.

[Red-Dog 3]

Hi Gromit, i've just had a trackIR5 and boy doe's it make the immersion a whole lot better.It's taking some getting used to, but already i can see the benifits with the added situational awareness it give the pilot.You don't have to keep switching views,So from me it gets the thumbs up.

[zoomzoom 2]

"Its like no cheese I've ever tasted."

 

ZZ.

[Baldric 42]

Hi Gromit,

 

TrackIR5 is well worth the dosh. It has transformed the way I fly the sims completely-- I feel more immersed, its easier to look for enemy machines while patrolling, not that hat-lurch or mouse-look isnt easy, just TiR feels more intuitive and smoother. Where TiR makes a huge difference is in the scraps/dogfights and seeing where the sneaky enemy has gotten to. The six degrees of movement allow you easily look around, forward (to see hard to read dials, gunsight etc), back, up, down, and pretty much all around with minimal head movement on your part, e.g., with my set up, if I move my own head a little less than an 8th of a turn right or left I have a view of the fuselage/tail assembly- so can check my rudder etc prior to take off, or check my six inflight. Other than the sims themselves, easily say the investment is solid (as it serves well with other games too, such as most car race sims, Arma and so on). I don't work for Natural Point, Im just one very satisfied customer.

[Von Paulus 8]

Wait. No, there is one more downside: you look like a complete prick sat in front of a PC wearing a baseball cap that has antennae. But this is a small price to pay, unless your family are particularly sadistic.

Couldn't agree more.

Besides there is another annoying effect when you don't have it. You keep moving the head like if you have one. It must look awkward when other people is watching.

[Bigfish3 0]

Gromit, I run TIR4 with TIR5 software. I just wouldn't bother flying without it. When you're in a merge with a bandit, you just turn your head and,er, track it. The thought of trying to do that with the hat switch makes me feel like I'm getting a headache. If you can afford it, just go and get it and I am sure you won't regret it for a minute.

[Olham 164]

When you come from hat switch views, TrackIR won't make you queasy, but a bit dizzy could be.

You must imagine, that you sit in a flying crate and can look everywhere.

That brings the problem with it, to handle the crate right, even when you check your six.

 

It takes a while to really get used to it. But then it is unbeaten!

This afternoon, I fought against Pups, and they performed some amazing turning and tricks,

but I managed to keep my eyes on the craft I hunted, even when he went through underneath

my plane from1 o'clock to 7 o'clock - I just looked down over the cockpit sides.

Once you learnt to handle the crate still right, you will have a much better situational awareness

and overview.

And don't even think about how TrackIR view works - just use it, and you'll see, it works fine.

It has a "re-center" key or button, and if you like, a "precision" button.

So you can always look at the center of the screen and press "recenter", and it will your straight

forward view. In a nervous crate, you might use "precision" - it's like stiffening up neck and your back,

less shaking and tossing; good for aiming. Should be released after shooting or for checking the

six.

TrackIR5 seems to work more smooth in a positive way. But they are both good.

[The_Black_Knight 0]

If you are pilot, its like night and day.

The ability to scan the horizon and the skies and rely on your MK I eyeball, is what defines early aviation and flight.

If you learn to fly and scan simultaneously, you are less likely to be caught off guard during combat.

Turning off the crutch of pan locking your target, leads to better realism and immersion.

Once you are able to successively follow a target through all levels of turns, your peripheral vision, will pick up details your surroundings, that you were not aware of previously, such as banks of turns of your own aeroplane, and enemy maneuvers.

 

The hardest thing about learning how to use this tool is two fold.

One, training your hands (and FEET!) not to lean and overturn with your head (which passes quickly), due to spatial perception.

Two, learning how to set up the TrackIR so it effectively is not either under or over sensitive, smooth, and has the correct limits of movement.

This second part requires respositioning the camera and your seating, so all viewing angles of the TrackIR are maximized.

If you are getting less than 180 degrees left and right (360 degree total), and 90 degrees up and down (180 degrees total), your camera is not correctly positioned.

 

You may look like an alien with your TrackClip on, but who cares, it is better than wearing an oversized VR helmet.

 

 

[Duce Lewis 3]

Gromit, TrackIR is near universally loved here

After my joystick it's my most important piece of sim hardware

It opens up the skies visually and changes the sim from snapshots to 1 fluid movement

Ony drawback is that some have repotrted motion sickness but they seem to be few in number

 

Suggest you got to the Natural point website and check out the videos top see what it's really like

http://www.naturalpoint.com/trackir/03-enhanced-games/enhanced-games-flight.html

 

HTH,

[Check Six 2]

TrackIR is by far the most useful tool for Combat that I have ever seen or heard of. I didn't have any "airsickness" problems with it when I first installed it, but I did find that I had a sore neck from twisting around a bit. You will not find a better device to spend your bucks on, and will wonder how you ever scored a victory without it.

 

Sell a kidney, busk on a street corner...whatever you need to do to get the bucks...DO IT. You will NEVER regret your purchase.

 

I find though that the LED lights in the headset that you attach to your headphones with all the cables hanging down are pretty obtrusive (well...that's not strictly true...it's MORE obtrusive than just wearing the cap clip), and so I fly with no headset (obviously I'm not a Multiplayer), and just use the cap clip. Much easier, and less cumbersome. I think you might have to be careful about the ambient light if you use this, so be careful.

 

Also, read up Homeboy's guide to setting up TrackIR (in the stickies). You might prefer to use the default settings than use Homeboy's settings, as his are set pretty aggressive, and that might be a bit too harsh for your first time. After you get used to it, you might wish to tweak it a bit.

[HomeBoy 1]

Just a little fun here...

 

I remember some years ago (pre TrackIR) when doing battle in Aces High using my trusty CH Products Fighter Stick with the "coolie hat" set up to control my views that I would go to bed with the tip of my thumb completely numb from working views for hours at a time. I would wake up in the morning with this really sore red spot on my thumb. One of the first blessings of TIR was that my thumb completely healed!

 

It actually took me almost six months before I could keep my thumb off the coolie hat after getting TIR. In fact, I had to program the coolie to perform no functions at all because I was constantly messing up my view with them.

 

I know I've been gaming too much when I resist turning my head to check the time on the clock that sits beside my monitor in the office during work because I am being careful not to "change my view."

 

I know I've been gaming too much when I want to "recenter" my view while driving my car.

 

I know I've been gaming too much when I find myself being careful when looking around a telephone pole or street lamp so that I "change only one axis."

 

I know I've been gaming too much when I watch a YouTube video of someone flying and can't keep my head still. I was at a movie with my wife and there was a scene of a guy flying an airplane and my wife poked me and said "stop moving your head!"

 

I know I've been gaming too much when I put my "antlers" on just to browse the web.

[Duce Lewis 3]

I know I've been gaming too much when I watch a YouTube video of someone flying and can't keep my head still. I was at a movie with my wife and there was a scene of a guy flying an airplane and my wife poked me and said "stop moving your head!"

Well I've still got a way to go but I can definately relate to this one!

[peterjh 0]

I'm afraid I'm one of those users who gets a bit giddy with TIR4, with BH&H and FSX, and have not persevered with it as much as I should. (And being seated significantly close to my TripleHead2Go setup to be unable to restrict my head movements). So I've been especially interested in the real benefits of TIR5 over TIR4 from lads who've experienced both. The reviews (PC Pilot and Computer Pilot) tended to review it with new users in mind so they haven't been much help. There's supposed to be a real practical difference, a real advantage but I haven't been able to pinpoint it just yet.

Any hints out there please?

[UK_Widowmaker 571]

Just dont answer the door wearing it...you will get sectioned under the Mental Health Act 1992

[HomeBoy 1]

I'm afraid I'm one of those users who gets a bit giddy with TIR4, with BH&H and FSX, and have not persevered with it as much as I should. (And being seated significantly close to my TripleHead2Go setup to be unable to restrict my head movements). So I've been especially interested in the real benefits of TIR5 over TIR4 from lads who've experienced both. The reviews (PC Pilot and Computer Pilot) tended to review it with new users in mind so they haven't been much help. There's supposed to be a real practical difference, a real advantage but I haven't been able to pinpoint it just yet.

Any hints out there please?

 

Hi Peter,

I've commented about this before (you can do a search for my id and you'll probably find it) so I won't rehash all of it.

 

I was a long time user of TIR4 and recently switched to TIR5. The primary difference between the two is resolution. I found I had to do all sorts of tricks with the response curves in TIR4 to get smooth, responsive movement. When I tried those same curves with TIR5, the views just jumped wildly around (because TIR5 is so much more responsive due to it's greater resolution). I found that the default curves with TIR5 were very reasonable and I ended up tweaking them only slightly. TIR5 is so much more natural feeling than TIR4 I was amazed. There was always a little jumpiness with TIR4 that I never was able to completely smooth out. I personally feel that it is worth the upgrade going from TIR4 to TIR5, especially for in games like OFF where the viewing system is so very important.

 

On the other hand, lots of guys here have posted good results upgrading to TIR5 software and not upgrading the hardware. It appears that the software is better able to manage the lower resolution and it does improves things a bit. I don't know that first hand as I have no way to test that but if you haven't tried that, it won't cost you anything to get the TIR5 software and try it.

 

Good luck whatever you decide. I do know TIR makes some folks feel nauseous. I always got car sick as a child and I'm amazed TIR doesn't bother me but it never has. I do notice that sometimes it's difficult to walk a straight line after playing for several hours because of vertigo (or whatever) but I never really felt sick from it. I sure understand those that do though.