My experiences of VR have so far have been two-fold: me in the comfort of my own home, sitting down and exploring a virtual reality world by moving my head. Or me in the discomfort of a room in a convention centre, surrounded by execs staring at me, while I explore a virtual reality world by moving my head.
Neither of these prepared me for flying around a rollecoaster at 40mph with a Gear VR strapped to my face. It's the sort of experience that can change you as a person and it's all thanks to Alton Towers in the UK, which is set to make history this spring, with the launch of the world's first rollercoaster dedicated to virtual reality.
Using its existing attraction, Air, it has mapped a brand-new virtual reality experience to the ride. Every undulation, pivot and loop you experience is complimented by a VR experience that ports you into space.
The total course of Galactica is 840 metres long. Along the way passengers experience up to 3.5Gs of pressure, a 20 metre drop and speeds of up to 47mph - all while wearing a Gear VR.
Techradar was among only a handful of people to experience Galactica before it opens to the public at the end of March, and we were walked through the process of how the new experience was created, by Simon Reveley of Figment Productions, the company that created the virtual reality part of the ride.
Overcooking on gas
It turns out that virtual reality isn't part of the experience but the whole experience of Galactica. Each passenger dons a heavily modified Samsung Gear VR and rides the rollercoaster, while watching a specifically made film that ports the rider into a CGI journey through space.
Galactica has been a total of two years in the making and while the mapping of the ride's twists and turns are key to what you view on headset, there were a few surprises when making the experience.
"When we started working on Galactica, we were really anxious about the accuracy of the footage with the ride," explained Reveley.
"While it does have to be accurate, what became really fascinating was that as long as you match the changes in direction and you match the acceleration, you can amplify things and over cook them."
"You can take a corner and keep it going and no one knows. You can expand moves as long as you hit the radical changes. As long as you match these, you can cheat things a little.
"For many this will be there first VR experience and they will go 40 to 50mph while witnessing it."
Galaxy quest
The idea of experiencing VR at 40mph for many will be a vomit-inducing one, but this simply isn't the case with Galactica. Using a headset on a rollercoaster is a lot more natural than it sounds - it's just another bit of kit you need to put on while entering the ride.
Sickness is usually experienced when VR tricks the brain into thinking you are moving when you are not - the locomotion effect - and that is something Galactica definitely doesn't do. With every turn, you are actually moving on the rollercoaster.
The Gear VRs that are used are nearly unrecognisable, as they are under a thick skin of velcro and packaging to protect them from the 1,500 people an hour that will be using them. And to make sure that the technology works effectively, everything is controlled by tablets remotely.
"If we have to reset one of the headsets, then we can do so on a tablet. We can see everything on the tablet and send messages to each headset if needed. All of this infrastructure is unique to Galactica, the whole ride is just about having that amazing VR experience," said Reveley.
Alongside the headsets, there are battery packs within the seats that both power an external control sensor and the Gear VRs.
The phones being used inside the headsets are Samsung Galaxy S6s but Reveley revealed that they were also testing the Galaxy S7.
"There's things like better cooling that you will get with the S7 as it's the first Samsung phone that's been properly designed for VR," he said. "The S6 was a bit of a retrofit for VR technology but still works well."
Another advantage of having a remote system is it's easier to update when needed.
"We can deploy all software from the tablet. We have been working on the content to make sure it's an amazing experience. Every time we do a tweak, we can then deploy these changes to all of the headsets at once, remotely," said Reveley.
"In theory we could do special events where we have bespoke content then take it out. It's such a flexible medium."
Space time
There is something of a learning curve for those new to VR, with the video that plays before you get on the ride explaining how the headsets work.
It's all pretty simple, though. You put the headset on, make sure it is tight and use the dial at the top of the headset to focus the screen. The headset is attached by springy wires and there is a person whose job it is to wipe the lenses clean every time they are used by a rider.
Once the headset is on, the rollercoaster starts. The experience is a lot of fun, though prepare to be a little disorientated. The VR footage is crisp, if a little too CG, but it maps to the many twists and turns Galactica has to offer brilliantly. The sound that accompanies it is great, too, and is piped through earphones that are within the protective layer of the headset.
Air is renowned for being one of the smoothest rollercoasters around, so it suits the space theme well and while the thrill of seeing where you're going on the ride - in real life - isn't there, watching the footage while feeling the outside elements is a great experience.
Riding Galactica is definitely something you should do more than once. We went on it twice and had a better experience the second time around. This was because we knew the premise of what we were seeing and this meant that the disorientation wasn't there.
It felt like we could look around a lot more without fear of missing anything important out. At just three minutes, the ride does feel too short as well - you want the experience to go on at least a minute longer.
Testing time
We tried out Galactica in the midst of rigorous testing - not only because the ride is just weeks away from launch, but this is one of the first new attractions to be revealed since the tragedy that struck Alton Towers last year, when its Smiler ride crashed and lead to several life-changing injuries.
There is obvious caution but this is a tried-and-tested rollercoaster that's been around for over 10 years, albeit with a VR flourish.
"On the VR side, we are so lucky to be working on a rollercoaster like this. It is so smooth and you have that flight position, it is one of those designs that work perfectly with VR," said Reveley.
"A lot of people are thinking about VR rollercoasters and I think they see it as a cheap upgrade to a knackered old thing but that isn't the case here.
"This is like the Rolls Royce of rollercoasters, it's a beautiful thing to have VR on."
With more VR rollercoaster experiences planned in the US, with Six Flags also announcing a linkup with Samsung and the Gear VR, virtual reality may have finally found its groove - not in the home, but hurtling 40mph down a steep track.
from Techradar - All the latest technology news