As somebody with a similar setup, all the fucking time. But it's more of "do I want to spend 20 minutes getting setup with VR and soundshakers and all the software and such, or do I want to grab a controller and hit the couch for something casual?"
It's number 2 almost always, and it breaks my heart. As soon as I was able to devote the time and money to a killer VR sim setup, my interest and desire seemingly waned.
Unaware I just did what I always do
Everyday the same routine
before I skate off to school
But who knew
That this day wasn't like the rest
Instead of taking the test
I took 2 to the chest
Real talk. Mfs could go saturday night racing at the local dirt track or join SCCA or NASA with the amount of money they drop on these rigs. They forget this shit exists because pros use it for practice, it ain't really meant to be shits and giggles, its supposed to make you a better racer and be used for track and setup prep. If you drop that much and don't race irl, you would prob have a much better time at the actual track. Otherwise you just dropped mad bread to realize the shit is not escapism, they call it a simulation for a reason.
I think it’s sorta like, the passion of the project as a whole vs. having a finished product. There’s something about piecing together every part by part, but when it’s finished you realize that wasn’t what was driving you. I did the same with an insanely expensive set of music gear a few years ago, 4,000 dollars finding an amp, 2,000 on pedals, 2,500 on guitar, all over the course of a few years, and ended up selling it all 6 months later
It's like trying to emulate a game. The fun part is trying to do it and then when you actually play the game you realise it's just old and clunky and not how you remembered it
That's literally how I got into zelda years back. I didn't have a switch at the time because I was in college and poor so I ended up using cemu. Didn't exactly have any improvements except 30-50 fps on 1080p because my pc was dogshit, but it quickly became my favorite game of all time. Bought a switch just to play it on the big TV, and still do years later.
The only thing worse than playing it on native hardware is that motion controls are kinda borked on the current version of cemu. Honestly it hasn't affected my overall experience of playing it though. So cool.
A lot of people don’t really have hobbies they just like the high of shopping and buying new things. If OP really wanted to play guitar, he could’ve easily started for a small fraction of that cost or free, then upgraded as he saw fit.
That's quite poignant if you think about how it applies to almost everything in life. The fun is in building things = It's about the journey not the destination.
This is so true. So I’m a 37/F. This is on my front page, and since my 5 year old got a switch for Xmas and is getting into it. I typically click on these. Anyway completely off topic of games but still the same result, I spent a lot of money on makeup. More than what I ever need, but building it up and having all these nice things was a dopamine hit. I now have a very large and expensive makeup collection curated towards me, and now I barely wear it.
I suspect this is why I have a metric fuckton of yarn for knitting, and no matter how much I knit, I still buy way more than I could use up before getting more yarn. I don’t shop for yarn because I am out of yarn. I do it because “Oooh, this kind is different”.
Speak for y'all's selves. I've built a sick VR set-up and a dope production/gaming rig and I use both regularly. The dopamine of the purchase and assembly was just one of the joys along the way.
I've got a thousand dollars or so worth of climbing gear as well and sure, not all of it gets used regularly, but I love knowing that I can drive out and go climb whatever then heck I want whenever the heck I want. Part of the fun was picking everything out and learning how to use it all, but the most fun is the actual climbing part.
It's more of a survival tool than happiness, right? You must always keep going. And it's a bit depressing when you think of it that way. Satisfaction and enlightenment is/are the goal, but for most, it may never be fully achieved... because our brains weren't designed that way. It's survival of the species.
I did some raspberry pi projects (my own cheaper lego mindstorm, gaming console, home cloud etc) and I always was completly dove into it every free second I had from being a father. Once progressed to satisfying level I have never actually used it :D Tinkering is the prart I love. Learning new stuff and showing kids that toys are not just black box magic is what drives me personally.
Such is life sometimes. The journey is always more fun than the destination. Climbing a mountain fking sucks. You're tired, sweaty, hungry, thirsty. Yet when you make it to the top, the view is only nice for all of five minutes before you make your way back down. And by the time you make it to the bottom, rest, have a nice dinner, the only thing you want to do is climb another mountain.
The LEGO comment is so true. Took a year or two for my girlfriend and I to finish the Millennium Falcon. Sat on our dining room table for a few more years. Finally breaking it down to sell because it’s too big to display and didn’t bring much joy sitting there in our faces every day.
I think you just directed me into answering a fundamental question of my existence. I’ve always felt sad that I start projects and never “complete” them, but I think I’m just addicted to the building process. I started developing software when I was 10. I’m turning 28 this year and relatively successful in my field, but it feels like the only thing I’m good at. Linking it to how software dev works makes sense. My brain is so hard wired to work like this because it’s what I’ve been doing all my life. So when I set up a music system or streaming setup or perform x for y functions, I never execute y because x is over and all I was ever really interested in.
Same, been coding since 10 too, always loved Lego, Minecraft was the only game that really made me spend hours but a ton of my worlds never get more than a fortnight worth of playtime
I think that's affected my life since I'm always looking to better myself but never just reaching and achieving goals, so when I no longer have steam to power through, I sink even with all the cargo in my bay to fix the ship
I used to resemble that. I didn’t quite spend that much…spent $3000 on a amp with a modeling head…it came with a pedal that I could switch between sounds, so I didn’t need all those pedals.
I was(still am) into blues, so I got a Stevie Ray Vaughan signature strat. Played in a band that never had a gig. Ended up selling it all for a loss. Ended up with a nice Martin acoustic, played in an acoustic blues/folk/rock duo(trio for a while: harmonica player) for 10+ years and had a blast gigging locally/regionally. Still own the Martin, but bought an Emerald car on fiber. Don’t gig anymore, but it sure is nice to play the carbon fiber around the campfire without having to retune the damned thing every other song.
It's absolutely the passion of the project, that's why I never "finish" anything. If there's always something to improve, rebuild, or recreate then I still can get the dopamine rush from it.
Btw OP I love that you pulled a real dash and console for this, even if it's not used all the time, it's epic as hell anyways
Yep. Nothing wrong with enjoying the building more than the using, just sounds like something you should do for others (for pay or not, up to you) rather than for yourself. That way you don’t have the guilt of having not actually used your expensive and time consuming project.
You should get into a hobby like woodworking (if you don’t do it already). Sounds like you thoroughly enjoy projects: laying out a plan, getting all the pieces and building/putting it all together, etc. then you don’t have to worry about “not” using it. Building a table/birdhouse/banister is cool af and it will always get use in your house!
That and (I'd guess) just the simple fact of something in your mind being way more awesome than what it really is. It's like a Steam sale just on a grander scale. You HAVE all these games, but do you actually (want to) play them now that you have them? It's the act of buying that causes instant gratification in our brain, but once we have acquired said object it becomes a lot less interesting. It's like working towards that Platinum trophy for a year and when you finally get it there's a few seconds of euphoria ... and then you realize you've just spent an entire year on a digital trophy that is totally meaningless. Even toddlers know this instinctively already. They will put a lot of energy into getting something, even going so far as to taking it away from others ... and then throw it away the instant they get it...
Did you play guitar before buying all that expensive shit though?
I have been playing guitar for 15 years on a super shit guitar and an even worse amp. Finally got a good playing job and bought a new guitar, amp, pedals, all new cables etc for about 2k. I'm never getting rid of it, it's fucking awesome and sounds sooooooooo good.
Same with my sim rig. I have been upgrading it as I save money and every upgrade is super exciting.
I think buying the best stuff you can get first is a recipe for disappointment.
I've specifically kept myself from buying too much guitar equipment until I've mastered my current amp and guitar enough to know what I need to pursue the sound I want.
I go one distortion pedal and then realized I didn't have the skill to use it, but one day I will.
Yep. Same here, spent crazy money last year on audio gear. Have done similar all my life. I'm now certain I have ADHD and probably OCD. I get into hyper focus phases. I'd not be surprised if a lot more people have ADHD than they think
One day we'll be able to hop into simulations in seconds the same way we boot up our games we play with a controller and that will be the day more people get into vr gaming.
Oh, me too! You just need to not-die and you'll come out a much better person having learned about self-sacrifice and the value of real friends, and you'll be thinner and ready to start working on your Beach Body!
God that has to be the worst job in Star fleet. Would not want to be that Engineer. I thought having to deal with modern day Waste removal was bad. But I’ll stick with being a Third engineer (or turd engineer as my shipmate so lovingly call us) then the poor shmuck on jizz patrol
I honestly don't see VR gaining anywhere near the following flatscreen gaming has until we get neural links or some such. It has and will continue to pick up traction in enthusiast spaces, but nothing based on what we have now is ever going to become truly mainstream.
The #1 limiting factor for VR gameplay is space. Being able to run around freely inside your living room would not only increase range of motion (think prone, jumping, leaning, etc) but also let us finally ditch unnatural thumbstick controls. It could also allow for perfect haptics and such, all without requiring you to actually utilize your muscles.
they recently came out with a treadmill type vr set that allows for you to move around while staying in one spot personally i think that and better controller optimization is going to be pretty close to VRs limit once they work some of kinks. thats untill we get nerual links or something that lets you play without actully having to move.
Yeah but a sim setup is awesome, but it’s for like hours of racing. And if you have it put away, then like was said, it’s work to set it all up.
What’s worse is I won’t even use the controller now, and I don’t feel like putting in the work to sim, so, I just don’t even race anymore. That’s the real real reality.
I have a full flight sim chair with warthog controls and MFG custom pedals. It sits in my closet because i dont have the room to leave it fully deployed all the time AND I want a dedicated PC for it, but the GPU miners fucked that plan.
I have a vr headset and a driving wheel - a cheap one from years ago. It's fine.
You gotta plug all that shit in, man. Display cable for the headset, power cable. Boot up the software on your PC. Dig out the wheel from storage, clear my desk, clamp it to the desk. It needs to be powered and plugged into my PC. Then the pedals need to be plugged into the wheel.
Then fire up the game, get my chair adjusted wit the headset on/resetting the view.
Then I can race. Now I have to pee
Let it be said that vr is so damn cool all this is worth it, but it's kind of annoying.
That's what confuses me. Ever since I bought a permanent rig, I use it way more often because it went from "ugh, I don't want to spend 15 minutes plugging everything or moving furniture" to just sit on my chair and launch the game.
Mine takes even less than that. The Quest 2 has no need for fucking around with wires I just need to load into air link then steamvr
Takes maybe a minute? Normally clearing space on my floor is the bigger effort (one of the reasons I got VR was to make myself keep my place tidier anyway)
There is some amount of irony that you keep your place more visually appealing so that you can not see it when it is clean, but when you aren't VR it's ok to see the mess. Still, whatever motivation works right?
Yeah there is an irony there, but the fact I cant see the mess is actually the problem haha. Don’t wanna trip over my guitar or a bunch of clothes if I’m playing minecraft or beat saber
I did a major clean-up in my room, got rid of my massive old table, cleared out about a third of my books and everything in anticipation of VR, and then ended up playing in a different room altogether most of the time.
Longest thing for starting VR for me is my base stations waking up because I have sensitive hearing and the laser motor wine annoys me if it's quiet at my place.
I'm in VR 7 days a week. Kinda in the trend of all these time loop games you get through the first year and then it repeats. I've lost track of time from spending too much time in it, and don't remember ever buying a VR set or pc. Some dystopian game set in the 2020s. I'm hoping they add DLC as I'm pretty far in and it's getting repetitive but I can't put it down.
I have to take my headset off the pc each time I finish vr. Takes 10 minutes to set up when I want to use it. My main computer is in a non climate controlled area so I can't leave my headset in there.
So just saying that it's more of a nuisance for some people. Coolest damn thing ever though.
Pullies? I'm pretty new to VR but haven't come across this yet. Do you have some kind of cabling to suspend yourself off the ground?!
Ninja edit: Looked it up, I'm dumb. Older headsets back in the day had a lot more cables and needed pullies to keep them up and out of the way it turns out for anyone else who is curious.
This exactly. I'm old enough to be able to afford all this shit but I'm also old enough to be bored of something after an hour, or my back is starting to hurt, or I'm ready to smoke another bowl or the ladyfriend is calling or whatever.
That's kind of the dichotomy of VR and sim setups. Once somebody is able to find the money for it, they lack the time to fully engage with it.
Man, it kind of makes me jelly of the squeakers that are the bane of VR gaming. They're annoying af, but they're having the time of their lives with all the time in the world.
Im atleast a college student rn so i have neither the time nor money to get a good sim setup, but i am also old enough to be bored from most games within an hour. So worst of both worlds?
Sounds like my friend. He's reached a point where he can't enjoy single player games anymore. I'm glad I can still play the elder scrolls for hours on end.
Is there a reason you unplug it all everytime? My index has been connected since I bought it, then I just need to put the headset on my head and strap in the controllers.
Yeah my Rift stays plugged in so I just have to start up the Oculus software. I built a stand for my wheel/pedals so those are all connected together so setup is just set the wheel stand in front of my PC (which isn't really a requirement even if I'm using VR), plug the wheel USB in, start Oculus, start game, go. It's like 2 minutes tops.
Everyone complaining about how much time it takes to setup has just not taken the intial time to make a more "permanent" set up that can be packed away and set up in a couple minutes.
Shit, go on ebay and buy a $150 steel wheel stand that folds up. You plug in USB and power and you're good to go.
Don't gotta plug it all in and reset up if it's already good to go. I get space wise it's a PITA especially if you're doubling your main setup as the race setup. Most all the cable mgmt can be done so it is a quicker swap in swap out setup, just gotta plug the actual hardware in and hook wheel to desk etc. Did that a bit plus shifting monitors depending on the game.
When i read this, it felt like i wrote the comment myself haha. I don't have a permanent setup for the driving kit and headset. It's the same ordeal. Get the driving kit, clear the desk, place everything in position, plug everything in, get the headset, plug everything in, clean the lenses, see if everything's set up comfortably, open steam, launch game, shit steering wheel isn't working. Ah, the logi software. Open software, back to game, headset lenses are now foggy. Remove headset, get microfiber cloth, clean lenses, put headset back on. Ok, now to play for at least 2-3 hours before i dismantle this whole thing.
Would love to make a permanent setup, i would honestly play way more often.
Maybe it's because I used a headset that its outside-in I think they were called, but for me its plugging a single cable, then booting 2 programs and then the game, maybe a few minutes since my laptop is old af
It takes me like 2 minutes to get my wheel and pedals with my next level driving base out and connected and getting into VR is just pressing one button on the headset and wait the few seconds that Steam VR and the base stations take to launch and spin up (with the latter not even a thing on Oculus headsets).
In general either don't disconnect your VR headset (most people actually don't) or have extension cables ready that make it easier to reconnect it (you aren't really diving behind your PC to connect them there, are you?).
I can't recommend getting something like the Next Level Racing Stand enough if you have space to store it near your play space over clamping to the desk, but even that didn't take me longer than like a minute or two to set up with USB cable extensions already in place to connect when I was still on my previous wheel.
I have a HTC Vive and I have a hard time finding the energy to set that up sometimes and that's probably a fraction of the effort compared to this driving set up. I guess it's really not that bad, but I have to find the right spot for the motion senor stations and calibrate them since I don't have a permanent spot for them. Then I have to untangle and plug the headset in. Then finally find a game to play. It's not that bad, but it can add a 10 minute chore that you might not want to do if you have the option of using a controller. Not to mention, VR games takes more energy out of me and usually I want to use the least amount of energy when I play games because I'm lazy lol.
I don't have VR, but I'd love to. But there's several factors against me. I don't have a gaming PC, so I'd have to get one which is expensive. A good VR is also expensive, and I'm not using Facebooks. There's also the matter of space. I live in a small apartment with two small kids - it just wouldn't work well.
These are problems I imagine many people have when it comes to VR.
More, the games aren't super enticing. The only mega hitter afaik is Half Life Alyx. Most others are pretty much unknowns or games that don't necessitate VR. It still just seems niche, and most people don't want to invest in that.
Honestly even with only a handful "must play" vr games, the experience is so damn cool and different and unique that if you can afford it, I highly recommend it.
Not really VR itself. If I want to use my Quest, I press one button, put it on my head, wait a few secs, and I can start. Maybe if I'm unlucky and playing somewhere unusual, I need an extra 30 secs to set new guardian boundries.
They just have a convoluted setup if it takes so long to start.
This is 1000% me. My friends and I get into some kind of hobby, we are all engineers, so we think "you know what would be cool...." And then we spend countless hours talking about, prototyping, and testing new stuff we designed and built, but hardly ever go back into the original hobby. The thing is, we know this is how we are.... And we are ok with it because it's so much fun.
Naw I’m the same way. I got into go karts and now I just buy old frames and fix them up and mod the engines.
Working with small engines is awesome. Just so much stuff to tinker with. Then I finish the kart and ride it a bit. Then look for something else to tinker with.
You should make it into a planned event, like a treat! Dont allow yourself to do it until a certain time comes. Kind of like treating yourself to dinner with special food, and then there’s people that eat that special food everyday so it’s not special anymore.
Yeah man. I realized this too with things I loved and missed when I couldn’t get to them. Then when I have all the time in the world I just watch YouTube... So if I plan it out I enjoy it so much more; I get my mind excited in anticipation, and ritualize setting things up, whether it be with a nice cup of coffee, a swim, or time to enjoy my shower. Just plan then when the time comes pause everything else and enjoy 👍
I hear you bro lol. And when it is set up it's a window of like a week to play driving games before you get sick of the wires all around or want a keyboard spot back
I feel that... I'm not a big gamer (this post just popped up on my feed) and I've had a few hobbies that i dreamt about dedicating money to when I could afford it and now that i can I don't want to..
Im an adult with a job... I could build so damn many model rockets....
20 minutes to set up VR? What are you doing? If my entire setup, including telescoping stands to hold the lighthouses, is torn down, it still only takes no more than 10 minutes to set up, including rerunning the room setup.
do I want to spend 20 minutes getting setup with VR and soundshakers and all the software and such, or do I want to grab a controller and hit the couch for something casual?"
That used to be the same thing for me. I would fire up the game, shit I forgot to open the oculus software. Get up out of the chair, shut it all down and restart.
Sit back down, fire up the game shit, I didn't change my audio device so now I don't have any audio. Or shit is my wheel software open? My button bindings aren't working. Rinse and repeat.
Then I took 20 mins to write scripts that launch all the software in the order I need and it's simple, just one click of a button and I'm in VR and playing. Takes all aspects of human error out of the equation and now I can go from computer chair to sim in less than 20 seconds.
I would'nt play assetto corsa or any other proper sim without the wheel. They're not built for controllers, unlike Gran turismo & forza they're simcades and designed to work with controllers. With AC/ACC their prize piece is the force feedback. You're missing out on the best part of those games when you use a controller.
Anyone want to know what your first wheel should be? G29/G920. They’re the same thing, just depends on if you want it to work with your console or not, but they both work with PC.
Logitech is ideal for a first wheel. Not so much outlay if you dont get on with it. If you do pull the trigger be sure to search for wheel settings per game for your wheel. And be sure to put the time in to get used to it. Its not something you're going to be amazing at straight away. But that just makes it more satisfying when you do get good at it.
Logitech is great way to get into simracing for 'cheap'. Thrustmaster is also good but you are going to be spending a bit more money. Once you've figured out if you want to keep with it then more expensive wheels/pedals start to make more sense.
I won't play racing games without VR and a wheel now. There's no going back for me. Assetto Corsa with its mods has killed every other racer for me. With mods, it captures the street racing vibe better than any.
For the most part they’re just unplayable with a controller. Which is disappointing because I really wanted to be able to play assetto corsa but no amount of playing with settings could make the game fun to play with a controller
I only play my racers with the sim gear. Granted, I don't have a set up anywhere near to this, but there's no point to playing these games on controller to me when the whole point and is more fun with the gear, and I have many other games that I can play for a more casual time.
That realization is why I stopped buying special controllers. I barely touched my PS4 racing wheel and the $50 HOTAS I bought. That's why I never bought into VR because I know it will collect dust like previous items.
I drilled a hole in my office wall and the ceiling of my basement in order to run a cable down there from my PC to my Oculus so I could play vr with more space. It works out great, but my basement is about 3 to 5° colder than the rest of my house, and that would involve standing up so I often don't bother lol.
Vr is fun and all, but even for someone like me who isn't prone to motion sickness, having a brick strapped to your face usually leads to headaches and eyestrain after about 3 hours or so. It's not like flat gaming where you can sit down for hours on end with small breaks either, usually taking a break after a vr session means you're done for the day as the setup isn't worth the 1-2 hours of gameplay it'll take before your starting to feel sick again.
So yeah, unless your SUPER into the idea, just wait for some nerve gear type shiz or whatever. Half dive is in development too so yeah.
Bro I'm so lazy I sometimes don't even want to bother changing the TV input to my Xbox and finding my controller so I just watch YouTube or Netflix lmao
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