Is the room-scale HTC Vive worth the £499 price tag? We’ve spent some time with the HTC Vive, and here’s what we thought.
The HTC Vive has historically been the most expensive option in the VR market, but a price drop has made HTC’s high-end VR headset more competitive compared to the £399 Oculus Rift and £170 PlayStation VR. But why is it still more expensive than the rest?
The HTC Vive offers an unparalleled experience by providing users with the opportunity to not only look around the virtual environment but physically walk around and interact with the environment using bespoke handheld controllers. The Rift does admittedly offer something similar, but you’ll have to fork out for additional base stations for room-scale tracking.
With the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive now on sale, the question has to be asked – is the HTC Vive worth the extra money? We’ve spent some time with the HTC Vive, and here’s what we thought.
So, how much does the HTC Vive cost – and more importantly – where and when can users buy one? The HTC Vive headset complete with two bespoke controllers and two base stations will set the average consumer back £499 in the UK following a 2018 price drop, making it a pretty competitive option. It’s a similar option in the US, where you can pick up the HTC Vive for $499.
HTC has acknowledged that even at £499/$499, the headset is fairly expensive for the majority of consumers, so it also offers the HTC Vive on finance. Those interested in financing the HTC Vive can head to the Vive website to find out more.
In comparison, Oculus offers both the Oculus Rift and new Oculus Touch controllers for £399.
If you’re unsure whether the HTC Vive is worth the £499 price tag, there are a number of UK retailers offering the opportunity to trial the hardware before parting with your cash. Specifically, anybody can walk into any of the following stores and try out the HTC Vive before ordering from the retailer directly (which should save you the delivery fee!):
So, what makes the HTC Vive Pre different to other virtual reality headsets that are on the market? Let’s first discuss the design of the headset. The HTC Vive headset is extremely comfortable to wear and features soft, memory foam-esque material around the edges to avoid any kind of skin irritation when being worn. The material can be easily switched out thanks to the use of Velcro, and the company provides users with two fits – wide and thin – for different shaped faces.
It’s matte black in colour, and while no VR headset will ever look gorgeous, the HTC Vive does a ‘pretty’ good job. The outside is clad with sensors that help the base stations (which we come to below) track your exact location within the virtual space, and comes with a supported head strap that should take some of the weight off the front of your face.
The strap is easily adjustable again thanks to the use of Velcro, and users can adjust the distance between the eyes via a little dial on the side of the headset. All this should provide users with something that’s comfortable on the face, and can be used for a long period of time with no complaints (which in our experience, it has).
As well as receiving the headset, HTC also provides users with two handheld controllers, designed to be versatile and used in a number of different ways in the virtual world.
The controllers feature triggers, a touch-enabled circular panel and a couple of physical buttons with built-in sensors allowing the controllers to be tracked in the virtual space almost perfectly. This allows users to reach out and directly interact with objects in the virtual world, which is a fascinating experience and one that is incredibly hard to describe.
The only real downside to the design of the HTC Vive is that it’s wired and not wireless. When we went hands-on with a pre-release HTC Vive, we actually tripped over the wire and damaged the cable connecting the headset to the PC – not an ideal situation, especially for consumers.
HTC has combatted this issue with the consumer HTC Vive by featuring a camera on the headset that can be toggled on and off, allowing users to observe the physical world on top of the virtual world. This means if you feel the cable wrapping around your leg, simply look down and you can untangle yourself without having to take the headset off. That’s just one example of course, but the idea is simple. Simple, but effective.
If that’s not for you, you can also fork out for HTC’s wireless adaptor that provides wireless VR play, but with a time limit.
However, the inclusion of such a heavy-duty cable is still disappointing. You can always feel the cable running down your back and in fast-paced games or games that require you to constantly turn, it’s easy to get tangled.
We accept that the technology isn’t quite there yet and it’s both too expensive and too difficult to create a lightweight wireless headset, but we feel that until it does, room-scale VR won’t be as immersive as it can be. You can be shooting robots or working in a 2050 office simulation and either way if you feel that cable wrap around your leg, it’ll ruin the magic of the experience – in our case anyway.
The HTC Vive features a beautiful high-resolution display (2160×1200) which when split across two eyes equates to two gorgeous 1080×1200 displays. The HTC Vive provides one of the best virtual viewing experiences out of all the headsets we’ve gone eyes-on with so far, with no real lens distortion or pixelation issues. The 90Hz refresh rate provides users with a beautifully smooth video feed, which helps to make the overall experience more immersive.
The VR headset itself features more than 70 sensors, which help the headset to track your head movement to 1/10 of a degree. This means that even the smallest head tilts are picked up by the headset and replicated in the virtual world with no lag whatsoever.
However, it’s not just the headset that tracks your movement. As briefly mentioned above, the HTC Vive also comes with two base stations that’ll track your physical location in a 15x15ft space (it can be smaller for those with less space, don’t worry!) enabling users to physically walk around the virtual environment and interact in a way that isn’t possible with the likes of PlayStation VR. The tracking is instant, and really makes the experience what it is – especially when playing fast-paced shooting games where you’re constantly moving around, ducking and running.
It gets the adrenaline going and helps to trick your senses into believing it’s a real experience. For example, we played a futuristic shooting game called Space Pirate Trainer where you battle increasingly difficult waves of flying robots. Instead of being stationary, we found ourselves ducking and diving and running from side to side avoiding bullets and returning fire.
It was a surreal experience, and we completely forgot that we were playing a game – we jumped quite quickly to the side at one point during the experience (to avoid a barrage of bullets of course), and almost crashed into a physical wall. It’s almost too immersive, and a slight shock when you do come back to the real world.
Let’s say, for example, you’re in your virtual world shooting zombies and having a generally great time, and you get a text/call/notification. Usually, you’d have to take the headset off (thus ruining the immersive experience) and check your phone, but the HTC Vive features Bluetooth connectivity and can connect to your smartphone. This means that any calls/notifications can be displayed in the virtual world, meaning you don’t need to take the headset off to look at your phone – you can even reply to text messages using pre-defined replies.
HTC thought a lot about the user experience and how people will interact with VR, and this is just one of many features that make the HTC Vive system incredibly user-friendly.
Before we go any further, it’s worth discussing the setup of the HTC Vive – an area that many gamers may excitedly overlook. When you first receive the HTC Vive system you’re prompted to download the setup software from the Vive website and follow the on-screen instructions. The setup explains all the different components of the system – from the headset to the base stations and controllers – and guides you through setting them up, one by one. As well as that, it installs Vive software on your PC and also adds the SteamVR software to Steam (if it’s already installed – if not, Steam will be installed first).
The first (and only real issue) we had during setup was where to place the base stations, an issue that we think many gamers will have during setup. You’re provided with two mounting kits that allow you to attach the base stations to walls, but it’s not something that we wanted to do. Attaching a base station to the wall is a very permanent solution, and doesn’t give gamers the option to easily move the setup if/when needed.
Thankfully the base stations can also be screwed into tripods and light stands, which is what we opted for because we could easily adjust the position, angle and height of the base stations, and is what we recommend for prospective buyers. It also means that if a reflective object (like a TV, mirror, etc) affects the base station tracking – something that users wouldn’t notice until later in the setup – the base stations can be easily moved to a different position.
You also have to set up your play area, be it a large space (or ‘Room scale’ as HTC refers to it) or a standing space for those with limited space. While we thought it’d be a fairly long-winded process, we were surprised at just how easy it was to measure and set up your play space. Once you’ve decided whether you want standing or room scale VR, you have to first show the base stations where the ground is by placing both controllers on the floor.
Once you’ve calibrated the floor, you then have to trace the play area with one of the controllers by holding the rear-facing trigger key. It’s as simple as walking around the edges of the play area to map it out, and the vibration of the controller provides tracking feedback. An Advanced Mode provides users with the option of simply mapping out the four corners of the play area, though both methods yield the same result. Once you’ve mapped out the area, it’ll be analysed by the software and you’ll be shown your active play area on-screen.
You’ll then be prompted to put the headset on where a Portal-esque robot will take you through the basics of using the HTC Vive including how to access the Steam menu and how to use various aspects of the controllers. Once you’ve gone through the fairly simple tutorial, you’re ready to start downloading and playing games in room-scale virtual reality.
Content is a vital part of the survival of any new technology, and the same rule applies to the HTC Vive. Steam is the go-to place for HTC Vive compatible content mainly due to the fact that Valve, the company that owns Steam partnered with HTC to create the Vive initially.
