Virtual Reality 101

Here's everything you need to know about what VR is and how it will affect your life in the near future.

So what is Virtual Reality?

Virtual reality is a computer-generated environment that lets you experience a different reality. A VR headset fits around your head and over your eyes, and visually separates you from whatever space you're physically occupying. Images are fed to your eyes from two small lenses. Through VR you can virtually hike the Grand Canyon, tour the Louvre, experience a movie as if you are part of it, and immerse yourself in a video game without leaving your couch.

Your best options for VR

VR comes in a few different forms. There's the cheap headset that works with your phone and there's the much more expensive option that requires a powerful PC or gaming console and some space to move around. Whichever path you choose, here are your best options.

Oculus Rift

The $599 Oculus Rift (£499, AU$649) is far more immersive than strapping a phone to your face. It tracks your head in all directions, so you can lean in and get right up close to virtual objects. The catch: It requires a powerful gaming PC to generate its graphics, along with a tether leading up to your head.

The ultimate VR experience — for now — the $799 (£689) HTC Vive lets you reach out and grab objects in virtual reality, and even walk around a room. Again, you are tethered to a powerful gaming PC, plus you need to clear your living-room-furniture and plug in loads of cables to fulfill your holodeck dreams.

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Here are the ways you'll be able to use VR

Gaming

From films made by Hollywood to live-streamed concerts and theatrical experiences, VR has become a place to view videos that surround you. New cameras are being created to capture these VR stories, and tools to upload and livestream them are growing in number. Soon, these experiences might not even seem like films at all.

Entertainment

Obviously, video games are one of the main applications for virtual reality as of today. But VR will give game designers the freedom to take games to incredible new places. They can also find new audiences now that players can just reach out and touch things, and turn their head to look, instead of mastering a complex controller covered with joysticks and buttons.

Artistry & design

Imagine building a real home with virtual tools, or designing parts for a new car as if it already existed in the real world. Imagine painting a 3D masterpiece while collaborating with friends around the globe. Apps and wand-like controllers are already making VR an amazing playground. Soon enough, these tools could become indispensable for a new generation of 3D design.

Education & simulation

Medicine, chemistry, physics, astronomy: VR can model the world in an incredibly visual way. And, it can also allow those worlds to be expanded and shrunk, played with and entered. Students could take a class trip to ancient Egypt, or try an open-heart surgery without any risks: VR simulations can offer practice runs at techniques, designs and ideas.

	Oculus Rift	HTC Vive
Display	OLED	OLED
Resolution	2160 x 1200	2160 x 1200
Refresh Rate	90Hz	90Hz
Platform	Oculus Home	SteamVR
Field of view	110 degrees	110 degrees
Tracking area	5 x 11 feet	15 x 15 feet
Built-in audio	Yes	Yes
Built-in mic	Yes	Yes
Controller	Oculus Touch, Xbox One controller	SteamVR controller, any PC compatible gamepad
Sensors	Accelerometer, gyroscope, magnetometer, 360-degree positional tracking	Accelerometer, gyroscope, laser position sensor, front-facing camera
Connections	HDMI, USB 2.0, USB 3.0	HDMI, USB 2.0, USB 3.0
Requirements	NVIDIA GTX 970 / AMD 290 equivalent or greater Intel i5-4590 equivalent or greater 8GB+ RAM Compatible HDMI 1.3 video output 2x USB 3.0 ports Windows 7 SP1 or newer	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 /Radeon R9 280 equivalent or greater Intel Core i5-4590 equivalent or greater 4GB+ of RAM Compatible HDMI 1.3 video output 1x USB 2.0 port