That was... enlightening to say the least.
Spun out on the last lap, annoyed about that. But brought the car home in one piece. Managed to last a 50 minute race (plus probably another 45 mins of warmup/quali/faffing) in a VR environment without positional tracking and regular dips below 75fps.
Health report:
- My face is a bit warm but not sweaty.
- Eyes feel totally fine, not dry at all (I wear contacts so that's quite a regular occurrence).
- I have the slightest headache, far less than the first evening I tested iRacing's DK2 support, and that was only for a few minutes. I've definitely adjusted to having no positional.
- No nausea.
- Some tiredness, but then I rarely do 50 minute races and that's pretty natural. It feels like I've had a significant physical and mental workout.
Very interesting experience. Felt like I was relearning everything as I went along - the biggest hurdle to overcome was using the real mirrors. I've relied on the virtual mirror for years - iRacing have disabled it for VR so I was forced to use the real ones, which are tiny and a struggle to deal with at this resolution. However, it clicked fairly quickly and the accuracy of scale gave me a solid awareness of where cars were behind me even though the detail was so limited. I had some nice side-by-side moments with a few drivers, including one which lasted several corners - a huge improvement in awareness there although it didn't actually help me overtake anyone. I think the tentative way I've learnt to go side-by-side on a single monitor is not something that can be overcome in a single race. I need a lot more practice to gain confidence in those situations, but I saw enough to appreciate the potential.
In terms of raw speed I was definitely slower. I was on for a top 10 finish at one stage, but that was only through a lot of luck. For example, that huge crash at 130R (a car flipping over you in VR is quite alarming!) gained me a bunch of places, and I was able to stick with some fast guys and stay out of trouble for large portions of the race. But running in clear air with no reference car in front of me, I'm sure I was slower than if I'd used my normal monitor. I lost all progress near the end by running out of fuel before the final pitstop. Pitstops aren't my strong point at the best of times and it was a case of brain overload in VR. I'd not practised stops, not remapped any of the keys, so I was feeling around for my keyboard on the straights to try to cycle through the fuel/tyre options... nightmare! I spent several laps running behind fast drivers, just to help me settle in, and I could feel that I was gaining in confidence and speed as the race went on. More practice will help bring me closer to my usual pace, but until I can compare some proper lap time figures I'm still not sure how close it will be or whether it will ultimately improve my pace.
Overall, very entertaining and very encouraging. I was so close to passing on the event altogether - I had no confidence after qualifying and thought I might mess up the race for many people. With the 'security' of the virtual mirror no longer above my head, I felt very exposed. The F3 (relative times) display was a comfort - another thing I probably look at too much. But I made it through with only a silly spin on the final lap and generally stayed out of trouble. A huge success!
