We published a video yesterday to demonstrate how technology is reshaping flight simulation.

Our own philosophy has been to couple an accurately modelled simulator cockpit with full working controls to the virtual world. Treating the simulator essentially as a large joystick allows the VR technology to develop separately, ensuring the cockpit will remain as relevant many years into the future as it is today.

In order to enhance immersion and the feeling of actually being there we have added force feedback, vibration and g-Force simulation to our design in simple, (relatively easily achieved by the homebuilder) modules. The one element that remained elusive at reasonable cost was being able to see your own body and hands in the cockpit while still being in the virtual world.

Limited passthough, being able to see a part of your real world integrated into the virtual world, offers that opportunity.

While the likes of Varjo have with their XR3 and now XR4 headsets offered passthrough for a while, this came at a huge cost ($4000+). Add to this some serious graphics processing power to be able to run the software at acceptable rates to enjoy the enhanced resolution available in these units and you are talking serious money.

Enter the Quest 3. Much lighter and more compact than the Varjo, you need no more than the 128Gb model selling for under $500. Add a proper headstrap with battery and in case you have not got one, a high speed router to handle the wireless PCVR setup. Coupled with Virtual Desktop to run the PCVR and a free passthrough utility from SpitIce (Thank you! Would happily pay for that!) we now have a very good passthrough experience available to us lesser mortals!

Check out our video here of it in action:

Graphics quality is great. You can see yourself and your surroundings in 3D. Bear in mind the video much degrades the visual quality, cuts the field of view severely, is only from one eye’s view and no longer in 3D, so can only offer a small glimpse of the actual experience.

Lack of physical presence was perhaps the one element that still made some prefer a physical cockpit with dome projection. The disadvantage of that is that generally the visuals are a little washed out and in flat 2D. Its perfect for procedural training in an aircraft with limited outside visibility (front and side windows) and where the focus is on the cockpit environment, not external visuals. The requirement normally revolves around flying on instruments anyway, therefore seeing the outside becomes somewhat irrelevant and in fact undesirable.

In contrast our focus is on experiencing flight in historical fighter planes, where the visual senses are extremely important in creating a convincing and fully immersive environment. With passthrough, still in early stages of development but available now, a new level of immersion has arrived.