By Tim Biggs
Virtual-reality headsets will never live up to the imagined future of the 1980s and ′90s. But they do give access to a world of games and apps that operate quite differently to the flat 2D experiences we’re used to; where you can move your head to get a new view of things, and use your hands and body to interact directly.
And thanks to breakthroughs in reducing their size and weight, plus technology that lets you see your surroundings with the headset on, they’re more accessible than ever.
But if you’re looking to buy a headset, there are a number of factors to consider. What kind of trade-offs can you expect from a less expensive headset? Or, for that matter, from the most advanced and powerful headset? Do you need one that plugs into a PC, or that works all on its own? And is it worth waiting for Apple’s forthcoming Vision Pro?
The Meta Quest 3 can overlay digital images on our regular view of the world.
The best VR for most people
Untethered headsets, which do all their own tracking and processing without external computers or cameras, were a watershed moment for VR, and the $700 Meta Quest 3 is the best of the best. Light, comfortable and easy to use, it delivers great-looking games and apps whether you’re on the couch or outside in your backyard. But its biggest advantage is its colour pass-through.
In addition to sensors that track the movement of your head and hands, the Quest 3 has cameras that see that world around you and — in a trick that seems natural but is incredibly technologically complex — lets you blend the real and the virtual. Being able to see eliminates a lot of nausea, and even when you’re fully immersed in a VR game, you can pause and go back to pass-through easily. Some apps, as well as settings and menus, simply appear as floating windows or objects in your real space, and a growing number of mixed reality games detect and integrate your walls, tables and other real-world elements. You can even set apps to stream 2D video or games to a huge virtual TV in your space.
For a more wallet-friendly option, the Meta Quest 2 is about $440 and is still great. After using the Quest 3, the older headset does feel a bit like looking through flywire. Pass-through is monochrome and really only useful to check where you are or find a lost controller, whereas on the Quest 3 it’s good enough to walk around or check your phone. But practically every game you can play on the Quest 3 still works on the Quest 2.
The heavy hitter
If you’re more into fully immersive games and experiences, you might prefer a traditional VR headset that plugs into a PC, blocks out the world around you and delivers high-end visuals direct to your eyeballs. While these are bulkier and don’t usually have pass-through cameras, they’re still improved today over where they were a few years ago, with integrated tracking removing the need for sensors placed around your room.
The Pimax Crystal is the epitome of high-end consumer VR, with the Chinese company’s unmatched panels and lenses providing the clearest and sharpest view into a virtual world I’ve ever seen. Tech-wise, there’s not much this headset doesn’t do, from eye-tracking to automatic mechanical pupillary distance adjustments, but overloading on features does come at a cost. You’ll pay about $3000 for the set-up, which is steep considering the Quest can plug into a PC for a similar (but much simpler) experience using a $100 cable. Other options such as the $700 HTC VIVE Cosmos provide solid PC options.
The Pimax Crystal is big, with a huge field of view and no pesky blurring in your peripheral vision, but it comes at a cost.
Yet for folks who are into flight simulators or racing games and want a huge field of view and the fastest, best graphics possible, the Crystal will be at the top of the list. You do miss out on a bit of the refinement and ease-of-use — if you think of the Quest as like an iPhone, the Crystal is like an absurdly powerful Android — but it’s hard to argue with the experience once you’re inside. The Crystal does have a standalone mode so you can use it with no PC, but it currently has very few games available.
A console contender
This year, Sony introduced the PlayStation VR2, and on paper it’s an incredibly capable device for the competitive price of $880. But despite its sharp high-resolution displays, eye tracking and great controllers, it comes with a number of caveats.
First, it only works with a PlayStation 5 console so if you don’t already have one, that’s an additional cost of $800. On its own that wouldn’t be so bad, given comparable PC VR systems also require an expensive computer to function. But while the PC has hundreds of good VR games available in established ecosystems, the line-up for PS VR2 is quite thin. The bulk of games are also available on Quest, major games from PC are missing, and Sony’s own studios have only produced one full VR game for the system: Horizon Call of the Mountain, a $110 climbing and archery adventure.
For existing PS5 users with faith in the future of the platform, it’s a great tethered VR unit. But those with a powerful PC or interest in wire-free VR might think twice.
Apple’s waiting in the wings
Coming to the United States next year and the rest of the world at some point later, the Apple Vision Pro headset is shaping up to be like a supercharged Quest 3 with several Apple-specific touches. Internal cameras can project a view of your face on the outside of the headset, so people in real life can see your eyes, while Apple’s existing ecosystem of phone, tablet and computer software will work as floating windows within mixed reality.
If you already use Apple products, this might sound like the perfect way to enter the world of VR but at $5300, it also costs more than seven times the Meta Quest 3.
Eventually, it seems like the Vision Pro could stand in for something like a Mac, so that price might not be too outrageous. But that assumes one can use it for hours at a time without fatigue, a feat that would be a first for any headset.
Get news and reviews on technology, gadgets and gaming in our Technology newsletter every Friday. Sign up here.