The future of VR

Virtual Reality. One many think of it as an oxymoron, but it simply means the juxtaposition of the unreal with the seemingly real. It is a way to experience 3-D reality without really being at a given place or going somewhere physically. Just the other day, I experienced a walk-through of one of the new condominiums coming up in Colombo by donning a Virtual Reality headset. It was a wonderful, if slightly unnerving experience.

VR, as it is widely called, has been around for some time but consumers are getting access to the devices only now. We already have devices which can do Augmented Reality (AR), where information is overlaid on pictures snapped by smartphone cameras. This has many educational and entertainment uses. VR is simply an advancement of that technology.

Exotic

Although there are many applications for VR, the best bet right now is gaming because of VR's ability to create stunning 3-D worlds such as the exotic planet Pandora depicted in James Cameron's Avatar. Imagine travelling to a far-off planet right from your couch - it is next best thing to teleportation and time travel - you can go into the past (as depicted in the hit video game Far Cry Primal) or the future with VR.

There are at least four major players who are ready with the devices, which should all be available by the end of the year. And the best part is that they all cost under US$ 1,000 for the unit itself, without counting the cost of other hardware such as phones and cameras needed for operating the device(s). This compares well with what they used to cost even a few years ago, with less than half of the functionality. In 2016, VR sales are set to go past the US$ 1 billion mark for the first time ever and in just 10 years, it could be worth US$ 80 billion according to estimates.

Sony seems to be having a winner on its hands with the US$ 400 Play Station VR (PSVR) headset, which requires a Play Station 4 console and a US$ 45 Play Station camera to work. The Japanese electronics giant has sold out pre-order stocks within minutes at all leading online and physical retail stores - the PSVR will launch only in October.

Launch

Among the other VR headsets coming this year are the HTC Vive, Samsung Gear VR (simultaneous launch with the new Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge smartphones - you need an S7 for the Gear VR to work) and Facebook's Oculus Rift. Microsoft and Google have a different take on VR with their Holo Lens and Google Glass/Cardboard projects respectively, while online giant Amazon is also said to be working on a VR platform.

You can actually get a Samsung Gear VR for free when you buy an S7/S7 Edge in some markets, but apart from Sony's offering, other VR sets generally cost around US$ 700. Sony does have an advantage cost-wise here - there are currently over 36 million PS4s that are ready for VR. In addition to the expensive upfront costs for the headsets and controllers, gaming on the Vive or Rift requires a US$ 1,000 PC build just to get started. Granted, the field of view and resolution on these systems should be better than on the PS4 VR system, but ordinary consumers may not find much of a difference in terms of cost.

VR is a still a nascent technology and many more applications will be found a time goes on. In the words of Sony's Worldwide Studios Chief Shuhei Yoshida "in terms of tech, VR is just starting, consumer VR is just starting, and there are also areas where R&D is being done; the resolution gets better, the interface, all of these kinds of things. So even though we are approaching PSVR on PS4 like a console - meaning that anyone can buy it without any technical knowledge - because this field is so new, advancements will be everywhere as we continue to work on R&D". What he infers is that even a few years down the road, one cannot predict what kind of VR sets will be available for consumers to purchase because of the rapid advancements in technology. After all, no one thought VR would be so advanced by 2016.

Pyramids

VR will be great for education - for example, students will be able to explore the Pyramids of Egypt without even setting foot there. Surgeons will be able to practice surgeries in a VR environment. In fact, Dr. Shafi Ahmed of the St. Bartholomew's Hospital in London plans to livestream in VR a two-hour operation next month on a cancer patient. Anyone with a VR headset will be able to watch it.

Sportsmen and women will be able to perfect their techniques using VR. Retail vendors getting into VR can only mean one thing - shopping. In fact, VR will be great for trying on clothing and certain other goods which are very difficult to 'test' online. As explained above, VR is a tremendous boon for real estate agents - their clients can walk through the entire project before even a single brick is laid. Expensive aircraft/ship/heavy machinery simulators may one day be replaced by VR simulators. A few years down the road, there will be VR applications which we can only dream about right now.

VR is not without its problems. Many people report a feeling of nausea when using VR headsets (a similar feeling is sometimes experienced when using 3-D glasses for 3-D TV and cinema). It does take some time to get used to in any case. No studies have been carried out yet on the effects of long-term exposure to VR on the eyes and the brain. Will VR be good for very young children? There still are a lot of unanswered questions.

Potential

But there is no escape from the fact that VR will be here to stay. Both hardware and software developers have barley scratched the potential of VR and things can only get better and more exciting in the coming years.