The Real Truth About Switching to VR in DCS

Video sponsored by Ridge. Ridge is having a big sale right now for their 10th anniversary, so you can get the best offer using my link ridge.com/mooch to save up to 40% off your order through March 26th!

It's always hearth warming to see an ex Tomcat guy enjoys his lovely bird as closest he can get and watching you explain stuff with all the passion you have is just amazing. Please do more DCS content sir!

VR makes such a difference for both flying and driving. Being able to look at the corner and bring the vehicle to it is so much more immersive and far better training value for when I bring my actual vehicle to the tracks I sim race on.

As someone who also has a 4090 and i9-13900k using a Quest Pro to fly DCS, I can't agree enough. Multi-threading is a game changer. Everything is so smooth and a 4090 finally makes VR smooth and bearable for long periods. We're now in the golden age of DCS!!!

I'm so proud of you Mooch for making the conversion to VR. Sort of brings me back to the feeling I had when my first child was born. Damn it, now I'm getting all misty-eyed.

Adding a buttkicker or bass shaker really increases immersion and I’d definitely recommend it. Easy to do one DIY for under $100. You might also want to consider a different throttle with more mappable buttons. I went with the Virpil CM3 throttle and have enough buttons to map everything I need. The afterburner and fuel cutoff detents are awesome too.

Ward, I am very impressed that not only did you stick with the journey and make it through learning about gaming PCs/VR/DCS, each on its own complex a complex topic, but that you were able to effectively consolidate and communicate the relevant topics and how they interact with each other. Well done, and I'm glad you were able to get to the "deja vu" level of immersion with your rig.

Hey Ward! I grew up on Long Island, and my dad worked for Grumman in the 60's, 70's and 80's. He worked on both the LEM and F-14 projects (among others). Growing up, I always had a fascination with aircraft and read every copy of Aviation Week that was laying around the house. I became an arm chair pilot and have been flying pc simulators from the beginning... F-19, Falcon 4.0 all of the way to today with DCS and MSFS. VR has realized the dream for me for the potential of at-home flying. Being able to launch and land on a carrier, flying over the Grand Canyon in a cub at sunrise before I start my work day... it is mind blowing how far things have come. Thanks for the videos... they often bring back memories... like my parents arguing over if we should move to Iran in the 70's (we didn't!).

Finally! Have wanted to say VR is how DCS should be played for a long time but didn't want to be that guy. There are some things to overcome with controls, clever input binds etc when in vr but it's easier to master than most people think. I feel bad for those building cockpits with all caution lights and functioning MFDs. It's impressive for sure but honestly in VR we only need functioning buttons through button box interfaces/Arduino boards with pushbuttons. Delightful that you've gone VR Mooch!! Greetings from Sweden

As a longtime DCS/TrackIR player this is very helpful as a ‘here’s the deal’ info video. Btw I’m one of those who found your non-DCS videos helpful in learning the Tomcat 👍

Mooch your F-14 videos definitely helped me become a better DCS Tomcat pilot! The tendency for uncontrollable roll moment and the counterintuitive rudder input definitely saved me a few times!

Perfect timing on this one Mooch! Looks like I’m picking up some gear today! Thank you!

Once you get a GOOD vr experience, You just can't go back. The difference is night and day... you're literally in the cockpit! Glad you got it working, I have the G2 too and would be happy to share settings if you wanted. Also try the Apache in night missions, super immersive.

Quick tip for finding buttons on the keyboard: usually f, j and num pad 5 has a small noch on the bottom of the key that you can feel

This was a great breakdown of how to get into DCS VR! Well done! I had almost forgot how much of a of a struggle it is to get it set up correctly when starting out... Looks like you have gotten some great advice with OpenXR, OpenXR Toolkit and MT. And of course the 4090 does help a lot. Glad you are enjoying DCS VR.

Outstanding, I am very happy for you. I have a VR headset & was amazed by how fast your brain adapts to virtual reality. A person could swear the motion is real. I get excited when watching people who have never tried it. Enjoy /

Thank you for the update. I am planning a DCS build around the F14 and am on the fence between VR and track IR, for the same reasons you covered in this video (immersive experience of VR, vs the need to be able to see keyboard/mouse/etc). Keep up the content, it is greatly appreciated!

Welcome to VR, Mooch. I've been flying DCS in VR since I bought my first Oculus Rift. You've pointed out some great things - OpenXR is a huge boost in frames and even my gaming rig with an RTX3070, with properly tweaked settings, flies great. I just bought a new PC that should be in tomorrow that has a RTX4090, so I am eager to punch up the detail settings. One thing to note - take breaks! Those first few flights in VR can make some people ill or give them some terrible headaches the following day. Myself and several pilot friends/retired military love flying together every couple nights. I love the Tomcat but i keep getting flap failures after takeoff from time to time. I hope to cross paths with you on the virtual skies!

Your videos are some of the most information dense content available! Great video on the VR setup experience.

Welcome to VR Mooch, your rig sounds very very cool. Your Ridge Wallet advert was well done btw, had me wondering at first lol