I’m writing this post from Bruges, which is in Belgium. Actually I’m sat in a rather interesting jungle themed bar called Choco Jungle Bar - definitely worth checking out if you’re in the area. Enough of where I’m sitting! The real reason you came here is to read all about my experience with the Oculus Rift Development Kit 2, I’m sure of it. What an experience it was!

Now for someone who has been excited about the potential of VR for quiet some time, it has taken me a while to actually test with it, and lets just say it didn’t fail to live up to expectations. But over the last 24 hours I’ve been thinking of how to actually put my experience into words, as I’ve been saying to everyone I’ve met since that it’s an experience that can’t be put into words. But, I’m going to try my best with this post after dwelling on it over the past day. I hope you enjoy my insights!

Where Did You Get To Use Oculus Rift?

As you would’ve noticed at the start of this post I mentioned I was in Bruges, which is in Belgium. Now out of all the places in the world where I would’ve thought I’d get to try VR, it wasn’t here, so it was a pleasant surprise. The exact place in Bruges that I experimented with VR was at the Historium Bruges, which is right in the heart of the Market Square. It cost a mere 5 Euros, and anyone is free to come along and use it. So if you’re ever in Bruges, check it out!

What Did I Experience Through Oculus Rift?

That’s the question I’m sure is on the tip of your tongue! To put it simply, I experienced Bruges centuries ago, I actually felt like I was there. It feels insane to say it, but I really did! I wish you could’ve experienced it with me. In fact, get yourself a flight to Bruges, and pay 5 Euros to experience it - you won’t regret it!

Let me get deeper into my experience using Oculus Rift. So as soon as I put them, I was asked to select a language, and to do this I simply had to look at my preferred language for five seconds. Simple as that! From there, with no lag, it switched straight to a ship (pirates of the caribbean style) heading towards the north Belgium coast. To say I was amazed at this first visual with VR is an understatement, my view was from the top deck of this ship so I could see the waves, the workers, and everything in between. 

By the way, I had headphones on as well which were provided so it was essentially reading an audio book to me about what was going on, and what period of time we were in and so on. The sound is crucial as well, so I could hear those waves beating against the ship as we were going through. It was so realistic, I really want to do it again!

So after the boat section it switched to a little boat going through the rivers of Bruges, this is where I really got to see the detail of the people on the sidewalks, remember this is still centuries ago. This was a pretty short scene, and shortly after it switched to the Market Square, Bruges. By the way, if you weren’t aware the world’s first stock exchange was in Bruges which I saw through VR. From there it flew down into the square, now for some reason I felt a jitter through my body, I wasn’t physically moving, but just by being consumed by the VR headset it was so real. So that’s just a brief description of the journey I was taken on with the Oculus Rift Development Kit 2.

Just so you’re aware I had a 360 degree viewing experience, with no lag what so ever. Wherever I turned my head, I could see exactly what was there with no lag what so ever. On top of that, the sound adjusted as I turned my head to look at different things.

Personally, I used to think Virtual Reality was bit of a gimmick simply because I hadn’t tried it, but now I’ve been immersed in that environment it’s something that really works, and it really can transport you to another place entirely.

What Issues Did I Have With Oculus Rift?

Now, I don’t want this to be a negative part of my post by no means. Rather, I would prefer you take the approach of seeing it as constructive criticism. After all, that’s how we improve! Obviously, as this is a development kit there are still teething issues, some of which I believe I experienced, so let me just give you a brief insight into them, because Oculus Rift can still be improved which would just make it even better.

So the first thing is, that it was a little blurry to start with. I believe it was because it didn’t sit on my nose correctly, of course everybody's nose is shaped slightly differently, and that headset didn’t sit on my nose as good as I would’ve wished. However, after a little adjusting it was acceptable enough to have a fully immersive experience.

Secondly, this follows on from my previous point, it was heavy on my nose. Personally, I thought it would’ve given me a headache, but I didn’t have that issue at all, it just felt pretty heavy on my nose. Now of course, this is getting into the real detail and being picky. But it’s something I felt.

And finally, I’d love to see a feature where you can lift your hands in front of you and see them in VR. Unfortunately, it was only head movements with the headset. I’m sure this is something that can be done, and all I can say is that it’d make the experience that much better.

But like I said, overall, it was an absolutely amazing experience. I felt like I was there.

How Can I Sum Up This Experience?

Lets just keep it simple and say this experience has made me want to be even more apart of this amazing industry as it grows. It’s still so young! Now my involvement for the foreseeable future will be as a user. But who knows! I may look at ways to integrate this into my business as the VR ecosystem evolves.

Now just to touch on the tourism aspect of VR, I feel VR has a lot to add to it, as I experienced. It adds a whole new level to visiting a museum. Rather than just seeing pictures, videos and so on. You can actually be immersed in that environment. So for that I feel it works extremely well. Of course it will effect a number of industries in many ways such as gaming, online teaching and so on.

The next VR experience for me I think will be Playstation VR, which is due to be released soon. Sony have got huge budgets to make this an amazing experience, and put it in the homes of a lot of people. So definitely something I’m looking forward to!

So there we have it! My experience with the Oculus Rift Development Kit 2, I really hope you enjoyed my insight. Definitely let me know if you’ve had any VR experiences in the comments, and what you actually experienced, I find this whole thing fascinating.