Best VR headsets for consoles and PC

This group is what most of the fuss has been about. The Oculus and HTC both work with a PC, while the PlayStation VR works with a PlayStation 4, so your choice of headset may come down to whatever machines you already have. If you're going for a PC headset, be sure you have good enough specs to run it.

1/ Oculus Rift

The Oculus Rift is the headset that started the new age of VR. Developed by Palmer Luckey, funded via Kickstarter and snapped up by Facebook for a cool $2 billion, the Rift plugs into your computer's DVI (or HDMI) and USB ports and tracks your head movements to provide 3D imagery on its stereo screens.

The consumer edition Rift uses a 2160 x 1200 resolution, working at 233 million pixels per second, with a 90Hz refresh rate. It's high-tech stuff, and matches the HTC Vive for refresh. However, given its access to the power of the latest PCs, it's pushing a lot more pixels than Sony's PS VR headset.

The Oculus Touch controllers that arrived at the end of 2016 have made a world of difference. Compared to the other headsets' controllers, they're our favourite – they conform to your hand and allow for some finger recognition, like a thumbs-up. Not just that, but when it comes to games Oculus has come on leaps and bounds. That's been largely helped by some developer cash injections from Facebook, giving us quality, polished titles like Lone Echo and Robo Recall. Room-scale support has been added too, though you'll need to purchase at least one additional sensor to get it to Vive-level tracking, and even then the Vive tracking experience is a little better in our experience.

But the Oculus Rift platform is finally a finished product that excels at giving you the VR experience the company initially promised. The price is a lot lower now too, especially now that Oculus is including the Touch controllers with every headset from here on out. Oculus VR permanently dropped the price to £399 after a successful 'Summer of Rift' event.

Taking into account the games, the experience, the quality of the VR and price, the Rift has climbed up to the top spot on our list, kicking out Vive and becoming our new VR champion. But guess who's not far behind…

£399, oculus.com | Amazon

2/ HTC Vive Pro

The new HTC Vive Pro takes the place of the original Vive, which was made in collaboration with PC games giant Valve. The Pro makes several minor upgrades that enhance the overall experience, like a better head strap that comes with built-in headphones.
The Vive Pro sports a 2,880 x 1,600 resolution on a dual-OLED display, up from the Vive's 2,160 x 1,200 resolution. There's also dual cameras on the front that'll help track your hands and a 90Hz refresh rate with 70 sensors to offer 360-degree head-tracking. It's not a leap to say that the Vive Pro is a monster. This is easily the most advanced VR headset out there, but it's also incredibly expensive, sitting at £799. If you don't need that added clarity, the Vive does all the same tricks.

Vive's best quality is its Lighthouse room tracking, which enables you to move around with the headset on, and it does this better than the competition. Be aware that despite the ability to move around, though, the cable is still a nasty reminder that you're tethered.

However, because the Lighthouse sensors need good vantage points to track all your head and hand movements, it means mounting them up high. This makes setup for the Vive a bit convoluted compared to, say, the Rift or PSVR. For the Rift, you can just plop down the sensors on a desk, though to get the same 360 tracking you'll need to buy an extra sensor (the Touch bundle gets you two). However, when you get Lighthouse all ready the effect is next-level – enough to make using the PlayStation VR or Rift feel like a step back at times.

At some point the 2.0 Lighthouse sensors will arrive with a new curved design and support to add up to four at once (right now it's just two). Meanwhile, the Vive's Trackers enable you to bring any object into VR, and some developers have already found some creative uses for them. These, combined with the TPCast's wireless adapter, gives the Vive the advantage in the tech battle. There's also eye tracking on the way as an add-on.

While its library has got more impressive, it's missing some of the exclusives you'll find on the Rift. Still, there's a lot to explore, and plenty of titles we think are worth your money.

HTC is also looking to push its Viveport subscription service, which gets you a whole bunch of VR content for different tiers of monthly fee. You'll be getting freebies every month, with titles you can swap in and out of a digital locker.

While the Vive and Vive Pro are technically more impressive than rivals, the Pro itself is incredibly expensive and overkill for a lot of people. If you're interested in some of the hardware in Vive's ecosystem, you may be happy with the regular Vive, which has seen its price drop down to £499.

£799, vive.com | Amazon

3/ Sony PlayStation VR

PlayStation VR will be a lot of people's introduction to 'good' VR. It's not perfect, but it's going after console gamers hard and, ultimately, it is still a truly awesome VR experience. There's nothing else in this category of 'quality but affordable' VR, meaning PS VR is the benchmark for mainstream console VR.

Having now sold more than two million headsets, Sony is at least winning the VR war on sales and we're expecting it to maintain that momentum through the end of 2018, with both familiar franchises and new IPs on course for PS VR.

Since launch there's been a steady stream of new titles, some from big franchises, with Resident Evil 7 being one of the most notable entries of late (and a 2017 Wareable Tech Award winner), plus Doom VFR and Skyrim, along with plenty more.

Setup for the PS VR is relatively simple compared to the Vive and Rift – the majority of the work is just plugging wires into the right ports. The PS VR, like the Vive, uses a halfway house where all the wires go. There's also just one sensor here to worry about, largely because most of the PS VR experiences are meant for sitting or standing in one position.

Despite being one of the big three in high-end VR, the PS VR is a noticeable step down from the Rift and Vive. It's got a 120Hz refresh rate, which is higher than the others, but it's not as crisp with its 1920 x 1080 resolution, which means things are a little more blurry. Plus, its PS Move controllers feel very long in the tooth; they're repurposed motion controllers from the days when the Nintendo Wii was popular, and feel very outdated when compared to the Rift's Touch controllers.

Compared to the Vive and Rift, the PSVR has a lower barrier of entry as you don't need a high-end PC to use it – just a PS4. So it's no surprise that PlayStation VR has outsold both HTC Vive and Oculus Rift even if, by its own admission, the tech isn't quite up to the standards of its competitors.

£229, playstation.com | Amazon

4/ Samsung Odyssey/Windows Mixed Reality

Microsoft's plans for virtual reality aren't what you're used to. Rather than go for a straight VR platform, Microsoft is investing heavily in a platform it refers to as mixed reality. And, since it's Microsoft, it's partnering with a bunch of third parties to make it happen, like Samsung, Lenovo and Acer.

Windows Mixed Reality is aimed at creating a more affordable version of high-end VR, and many of the headsets are built to run in two modes: one for PCs with dedicated graphics cards and one for PCs with integrated graphics. Many of these headsets start around $300, but at the top of the pile is the Samsung Odyssey. It has built-in spatial headphones from AKG, two 1400 X 1600 AMOLED displays, and a 110-degree field of view.

One place Microsoft has succeeded in how easy it is to set up its WMR headsets. It uses inside-out tracking, so you won't need to go plug in a bunch of sensors to make sure your headset is being seen. These headsets have built-in cameras and sensors that handle all of that. They'll even track the Windows Mixed Reality controllers, which suffer a bit because they rely on the headset being able to see them clearly to properly track.

Do remember that it's still early days for WMR, and you can tell by the number of experiences available. Cliff House is a pretty cool home area to roam around, but there isn't the amount of great experiences that Vive, Rift or even PS VR offer at this point in its lifecycle. Hopefully that will improve as the months pass.

In our hands-on time with the Odyssey, we felt it was the one Mixed Reality headset that's on the same level as Oculus Rift. It has a premium, comfortable feel that the other headsets, from the likes of Lenovo, Acer and HP don't have. For Windows Mixed Reality right now, Samsung holds the bar.

£699, samsung.com | Amazon