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| Posted by admin on Tuesday, February 06 @ 16:10:51 EST
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Flight simulation enthusiasts are continually searching for that next level of realism. Be it in the level of detail in their scenery or aircraft, or in the peripherals used to control the planes that seem to be growing in complexity with every new version of the latest and greatest simulator platform.
In this review, Colin Buckle takes us through his first experience using NaturalPoint's TrackIR 4 Pro. One such peripheral which is helping to increase the immersiveness of the flight simulation experience through the use of 3D motion tracking.
TrackIR 4 Pro is now available at The FlightSim Store.
A quick review of TrackIR 4 Pro
The first thing that surprised me was how quickly the product arrived. I ordered it late on a Friday and by early morning on Monday it was on my desk at work.
As is usual these days, the packaging was much larger than the product itself and in fact I was shocked by just how small this product is.
Arriving home after work and after doing some points earning with my wife, (walk the dog, cook tea, do the dishes and a few well timed compliments), I started the installation at 2010 hours and was completely installed and flying by 2020.
The installation was painless and very simple. The only thing I found annoying was that the program does not launch automatically at the end of the install which would have allowed you to set up all the options even though there are very few to set. I know that some people prefer it not to happen this way, however, when there are options that need to be set prior to using an application for the first time, I find this quite useful.
There are quite a few profiles that are supplied with the application and I won't cover them as the only one that I was interested in was the FS2004 profile, which was just a matter of selecting and away you go.
The black TrackClip (supplied) fit straight onto my Action Stunts Australia peaked cap (free plug for the next door neighbour there) and even though it was only just visible from the underside of the cap, after a while I completely forgot it was there.
There are two small windows that can be displayed which give you an idea as to how your setup is working.
The first shows you a black square with three small markers which are the reflective tabs on the TrackClip, this gives you the ability to position the TrackIR so that the markers are positioned roughly in the middle of the black area. Moving your head also moves the markers so you get an idea as to you FOV of the unit.
The second of these windows is split in two vertically with a rendered head on each side. The left head shows your head position, and the right displays the "ingame" position of your head. Using this, you can see just how exaggerated the smallest movement will be in the game.
Time to fly:
Fired up FS2004 and jumped into the old favourite of mine, the Wirraway, and switched straight into VC. All I can say at this point is WOW!
I just couldn't resist trying all 6DOF and stuck my head out of the cockpit to look down the runway, then sat up a bit and looked over the cockpit down the runway, then moved toward the screen to zoom in on the panel (I can actually read everything on the gauges), looked left, right, up, down and even tilted the head to watch every movement translate just perfectly and smoothly.
Took to the skies and tried all 6DOF again, this time, double WOW! This unit really makes VC flying come to life.
Mid flight, I changed over to another favourite, the Mustang and the experience was just as clean as before, no complaints with that one either. Then it was time to change to the Captain Sim c130. This was just a dream to use. Being able to just look around the cockpit without having to use the keys or that damn joystick hat made this a whole new experience. The one thing I did find with this one was that you could not stick your head through the glass to look outside (unlike the Wirra and Stang) which I liked as it made it even more realistic. I loved being able to lean forward and look outside to the left and see the prop blades.
It was about this time my wife came into the room and said "you look like a geek... I didn't marry a geek!"
(hate to tell you honey, some things remain a secret until you manage to accidentally find them out).
Time to take a break now and try to convince the wife that I am not really a geek, just a guy who always wanted to fly but neither had the right education, nor able to afford private lessons. Hit the pause key and start to take the hat off whilst watching the view on the screen go in every direction and when the hat was out of the FOV it jumped back to centre (I loved that feature).
Coming back to the PC after a smoke and a bit of sweet talking (more points earning), I put the hat back on and hit the pause button again. This time I noticed that, as my chair is on wheels, I was obviously not in the same position I was before I went for a break so the view was slightly off centre. Enter the F12 key!! Hit this key and all is good again, where and how I am now sitting becomes the centre view and we're back to where we started.
Jumped over to try out the Extra (a plane I have really struggle to fly) and it was just brilliant. I can actually fly the little beastie now!
Conclusion:
A couple of people said I would love this unit and they were absolutely correct. This would have to be the best thing I have invested in for FS and it has made the whole experience just the best. I would highly recommend this to anyone that has tried to fly using only a joystick hat in VC and got to the point of saying "why do people rave about VC?" TrackIR and VC make you feel (as they say) like you are in the game, not just playing it. This unit is worth the money as it has improved the experience by a factor I can't even put a figure on.
Note: I have no affiliation with Natural Point or Captain Sim (or Action Stunts Australia, other than the owner lives next door to me). This review is written from a users perspective only and all views (excuse the pun) are mine and mine alone.
Review By Colin Buckle
Originally posted in the forums at Vista Australis. |
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