If you find it too difficult to stand for hours playing a VR game, you’ll sooner or later want to upgrade to a chair, as a couch is a bit too stationary. And if you’ve ever played with a VR headset from the comfort of your swivel chair, then you’ll know that… The Flintstones Action you must do with your feet to turn. Roto Virtual Reality Explorer The gaming chair eliminates all that extra effort with a fully motorized base that doesn’t have the extra bulk. However, it’s the only device that makes me nauseous for VR just by looking at it.
The Roto VR Explorer essentially acts as an all-in-one station for your headset, specifically the Meta Quest 3In order for the chair to rotate on its own, you’ll need to wear a hockey puck-like device on top of the Quest’s head strap to track your head movement. There’s also a haptic motor running through the seat and back of the chair to offer some force feedback as you play. For longer sessions, you can run the Quest’s power cable through the chair to give it a little extra juice.
The Roto chair enters the realm of expensive and highly specific motion peripherals such as the omnidirectional treadmills and Other devices with concave, low-friction walking surfaces. Some researchers have also tested foot sensor mats and motorized shoes Offering that feeling of movement without moving.
We’ve yet to see a more sedentary setup designed specifically for Quest than the Roto VR. The Explorer has a circular stand and two pegs to secure your feet in place. The chair is motorized and claims to be able to spin at a maximum of 21 revolutions per second, which sounds like the worst carnival ride of your life. To rotate your body, you’ll need to attach a “Roto head tracker” to the top of the Quest’s head strap. The chair also supports “fully seated” VR experiences, according to the company.
It may not be the most comfortable setup, though the company says it’s working on a «Pro» version that comes with adjustable armrests and a neck cushion. That should supposedly add even more haptics to your spine, though we’re curious if it’s as capable as Other haptic pads We have used products from companies like Razer.
Its large size means it’s not something you’ll place next to your computer desk to act as your gaming chair of choice. trailer The chair depicts a group of friends or family surrounding the headset user, who is stuck in the center of the room, like a metaverse representation of a monkey in the middle. If you’ve ever watched someone play a game in VR, you probably know that it can get boring and isolating pretty quickly. Ultimately, the chair is made for solo gamers who don’t really feel like standing up to play VR games.
Roto VR claims to support over 400 games on the Meta Quest store, but the company did not respond to our questions about whether it might be compatible with other headsets or even Apple Vision Pro.
The chair is now available for pre-order, but it will still set you back $800 on top of what you already paid for the $500 Meta Quest 3. The chair is supposed to start shipping sometime in October. Roto VR plans to show off its chair at Gamescom starting August 21 if you’re in Cologne, Germany, to literally test it out.
