GT7 & PSVR2

[ShonnDaylee]

One of the biggest drawbacks of PSVR2 is the extremely narrow "sweetspot". I also had the Globular Cluster (a must for people with smaller heads), but it was still a bit of a crapshoot to get it just right every time I sat down for a race. Even at the best of times there was always some blurriness around the edges (outside of your focal point).

 

[jonoholland29]

Also to add - when looking at something like my car list, I have to move my head to get it to focus, rather than it tracking my eyes as I was lead to believe.

 

[Lomic]

Also to add - when looking at something like my car list, I have to move my head to get it to focus, rather than it tracking my eyes as I was lead to believe.

same here, but I did not followed carefully the details about the headset, not sure foveated rendering is available on PSVR2 (even if it is available, it is not active in GT7)

 

[newmedia_dev]

I use the standard gear and find it fine, when it’s not clear it’s either not sitting right on my eyes or body/goggle temp difference.

Just as a side note eye tracking and field of view focus are different things. Glancing at the MFD or side mirrors for example is better than just moving your eyes.

Our vision is stereoscopic so not moving your head will always end up with laterally one eye looking across the other. Probably not what you guys are talking about but I do post some vr races etc on YT and you can see where the focus shifts to bring the environment in to focus etc.

 

[GlamFM]

Also to add - when looking at something like my car list, I have to move my head to get it to focus, rather than it tracking my eyes as I was lead to believe.

Two different things at play here. Only what you look at directly is rendered at full resolution. It’s called FOVeated rendering and works as advertised.
What you are describing is a limitation of the lenses that only offer a very small sweet spot and have you move your head around to put stuff in the middle of your FOV where it’s the sharpest.

 

[ShonnDaylee]

same here, but I did not followed carefully the details about the headset, not sure foveated rendering is available on PSVR2 (even if it is available, it is not active in GT7)

It absolutely is activated in GT7, just not in the menu screen. It's only active while on track.

 

[newmedia_dev]

not sure foveated rendering is available on PSVR2 (even if it is available, it is not active in GT7)

It is active, its literally why when watching VR playback in flat screen everything else is only partially rendered.

Take a car to the cafe to do a walk around, take a screen shot of where you are looking, then look at the edges of the image.

That is foveated rendering with a little bit of PD/Sony ip thrown in for post processing.

Just so everyone is on the same page, what do you think foveated rendering looks like?

Edit: Cafe, not Care! Damn autocorrect.

 

[Lomic]

It absolutely is activated in GT7, just not in the menu screen. It's only active while on track.

why do areas out of focus (on track) get their best sharpness when I rotate my head toward them and not just my eyes ?

 

[ShonnDaylee]

why do areas out of focus (on track) get their best sharpness when I rotate my head toward them and not just my eyes ?

Did you not see this response from GlamFM?

Two different things at play here. Only what you look at directly is rendered at full resolution. It’s called FOVeated rendering and works as advertised.
What you are describing is a limitation of the lenses that only offer a very small sweet spot and have you move your head around to put stuff in the middle of your FOV where it’s the sharpest.

 

[newmedia_dev]

why do areas out of focus (on track) get their best sharpness when I rotate my head toward them and not just my eyes ?

Because focal lengths are calculated on the triangulation of both eyes, when you only move your eyes the spatial reference is the same, when you move your head the entire environment it moved with you.

You know when you have to set up a play area and scan the space…your head is the physical frame of reference your eyes just set visual focus depth

 

[rsspyder21]

I’m still waiting for my pre-ordered Bigscreen Beyond 2 headset. Love the PSVR2 but really looking forward to a better headset visuals experience with something like iRacing. That said, I can get my PSVR2 looking the same every time, no problem, and I rarely even notice its shortcomings in GT7, I just focus (no pun intended) on the driving.

 

[Kriptical]

I’m still waiting for my pre-ordered Bigscreen Beyond 2 headset. Love the PSVR2 but really looking forward to a better headset visuals experience with something like iRacing. That said, I can get my PSVR2 looking the same every time, no problem, and I rarely even notice its shortcomings in GT7, I just focus (no pun intended) on the driving.

Nice. Been looking at the big screen beyond stuff and Pimax. Kinda have this idea that the wider the fov, the better the immersion. What made you go with BSB2?

 

[rsspyder21]

Nice. Been looking at the big screen beyond stuff and Pimax. Kinda have this idea that the wider the fov, the better the immersion. What made you go with BSB2?

There’s no way to try these things ahead of time so I based it best I could on available info. Pimax has more than a few awful Amazon reviews, though I take it with a grain of salt. Also a large headset. BSB2 size and feature set looks great to me, and Will on Boosted Media’s review was full of praise for it for sim racing.

 

[Kriptical]

There’s no way to try these things ahead of time so I based it best I could on available info. Pimax has more than a few awful Amazon reviews, though I take it with a grain of salt. Also a large headset. BSB2 size and feature set looks great to me, and Will on Boosted Media’s review was full of praise for it for sim racing.

Yeah. It feels like watch a few reviews then cross your fingers and hope for the best. Its a small part of why I’m going to procrastinate building a pc for about 6 months. Hopefully some of the fur has settled and decisions will be easier..not likely I know lol..

If AC Evo and PMR make it to console without VR support I’d imagine that a few more people around here will get frustrated with Sony and there will be a few more opinions kicking around.

I’m pretty sure I’ve read board messages from both PMR and AC Evo saying that they would need some help from the sony team to make psvr2 viable. At this point, if Sony doesn’t help them..to me..they have either given up on supporting VR on the console and we shouldn’t expect a psvr3 or they are protecting GT7..which would be fine if GT7 updated VR..at all…ever…or if they released a few more tracks. Given how not many of these things sound likely it will probably be time to jump ship.

Can’t wait to hear how you like it bud.

 

[rsspyder21]

Yeah. It feels like watch a few reviews then cross your fingers and hope for the best. Its a small part of why I’m going to procrastinate building a pc for about 6 months. Hopefully some of the fur has settled and decisions will be easier..not likely I know lol..

If AC Evo and PMR make it to console without VR support I’d imagine that a few more people around here will get frustrated with Sony and there will be a few more opinions kicking around.

I’m pretty sure I’ve read board messages from both PMR and AC Evo saying that they would need some help from the sony team to make psvr2 viable. At this point, if Sony doesn’t help them..to me..they have either given up on supporting VR on the console and we shouldn’t expect a psvr3 or they are protecting GT7..which would be fine if GT7 updated VR..at all…ever…or if they released a few more tracks. Given how not many of these things sound likely it will probably be time to jump ship.

Can’t wait to hear how you like it bud.

I procrastinated on getting a gaming PC for the past 10 years 🤣
Didn’t want to wait anymore LOL

I love GT7 on PSVR2. I’m able to easily look past most of the little issues with it. In fact, it was the GT7/VR experience that finally made me think it was worth the spend for all this PC hardware. I expect the PC VR quality to be better for sure, but for me the step up is mostly about wanting even more tracks and modern race cars that GT7 doesn’t offer. Between iRacing et al, and with more sims coming down the pipe, there really won’t be a track or car that isn’t available to run.

If GT had all the tracks used in F1, IMSA, IndyCar and WEC, and more modern race cars, I probably wouldn’t have thought it was worth the time and expense to go down the PC road.

 

[GTRedman]

Two different things at play here. Only what you look at directly is rendered at full resolution. It’s called FOVeated rendering and works as advertised.
What you are describing is a limitation of the lenses that only offer a very small sweet spot and have you move your head around to put stuff in the middle of your FOV where it’s the sharpest.

The issue I have with PSVR2's foveated rendering is that it's like the feature is incompatible with Fresnel lenses, or it's the worst type of lenses to use it on.

What's the point of foveated rendering doing its job if your eyes can’t see it? Foveated rendering needs optical clarity, but the small sweet spot of Fresnel lenses makes it kind of useless.

I have to wonder if the original design had better lenses planned, but due to costs were scrapped for cheaper lenses.

 

[Lomic]

for me the step up is mostly about wanting even more tracks and modern race cars that GT7 doesn’t offer. Between iRacing et al, and with more sims coming down the pipe, there really won’t be a track or car that isn’t available to run.

On my side, I don't care about more tracks, more cars and I really enjoy the great ease to use PSVR2 on PS5. GT7 is beautiful too, even in VR, not all PC titles can do better, most of them focus on other aspects (like being a more realistic sim). Plus I have a great community of buddies with whom I race every week.

As for the cars, we use a wide range of them and rarely the pure race cars, often stock or with little tuning to make them more enjoyable to drive.

There are a lot of little things that could be improved in GT7, sure, in particular in lobbies, but we adapt and it is not an issue when the race is going on.

I use VR on PC too (ACC, MSFS2020 with a Quest2 and now with PSVR2 and an adapter), and it is sometimes a lot of works to make all stars align. And at times it stopped working entirely and it took me weeks to put it back in order (mainly due to procrastinating the "repair" because I was not motivated enough.

I have to admit though that some good PC headset with pancake lenses, high resolution are tempting, but I'd need to upgrade the PC too (currently on a Intel i7 with 32Go of RAM, RTX 3070, SSDs...)

 

[GlamFM]

The issue I have with PSVR2's foveated rendering is that it's like the feature is incompatible with Fresnel lenses, or it's the worst type of lenses to use it on.

What's the point of foveated rendering doing its job if your eyes can’t see it? Foveated rendering needs optical clarity, but the small sweet spot of Fresnel lenses makes it kind of useless.

I have to wonder if the original design had better lenses planned, but due to costs were scrapped for cheaper lenses.

The point of Foveated rendering is resource management. And that it does.

Again two different things at play here. The limitation of the lenses is one thing - foveated rendering a completely different thing.
Better lenses would be better regardless.

 

[GTRedman]

The point of Foveated rendering is resource management. And that it does.

Again two different things at play here. The limitation of the lenses is one thing - foveated rendering a completely different thing.
Better lenses would be better regardless.

Yeah, you're right — FR does achieve its goal of reducing GPU workload. No argument there.

But I think you're oversimplifying the situation. Saying "they’re two separate systems" ignores the reality that they're meant to work together, you shouldn't have to move your head to bring it into focus.

So while FR works as intended from a rendering perspective, its impact is heavily limited by the hardware it's paired with. It's not just that "better lenses would be better" — it's that these specific lenses reduce the visible benefit of foveated rendering.

If you look at Playstation marketing there is usually a short snippet for FR with a theme of "Focus on the detail", so there is an expectation that FR leads to sharper visuals based on what your looking at.

 

[GlamFM]

But I think you're oversimplifying the situation. Saying "they’re two separate systems" ignores the reality that they're meant to work together, you shouldn't have to move your head to bring it into focus.

So while FR works as intended from a rendering perspective, its impact is heavily limited by the hardware it's paired with. It's not just that "better lenses would be better" — it's that these specific lenses reduce the visible benefit of foveated rendering.

You’re still mixing up two completely separate concepts. Foveated rendering doesn’t enhance sharpness - it just allocates rendering resources to the region you’re directly looking at. That happens whether the lenses are flawless or flawed.

Lens limitations don’t “nerf” foveated rendering - the lens limitations exists with or without FR, and FR continues to do exactly what it’s designed to do regardless. If your point is simply that better optics would improve the experience, that’s obvious, but it’s not an argument against foveated rendering itself.

Right now, you’re treating two parallel systems as though one cancels out the other, when in reality they’re independent. One controls how pixels are rendered, the other how they’re viewed. Mixing them up is why your critique doesn’t land.

 

[GTRedman]

You’re still mixing up two completely separate concepts. Foveated rendering doesn’t enhance sharpness - it just allocates rendering resources to the region you’re directly looking at. That happens whether the lenses are flawless or flawed.

Lens limitations don’t “nerf” foveated rendering - the lens limitations exists with or without FR, and FR continues to do exactly what it’s designed to do regardless. If your point is simply that better optics would improve the experience, that’s obvious, but it’s not an argument against foveated rendering itself.

Right now, you’re treating two parallel systems as though one cancels out the other, when in reality they’re independent. One controls how pixels are rendered, the other how they’re viewed. Mixing them up is why your critique doesn’t land.

I get that FR works technically and doesn’t enhance sharpness, but if I still have to move my head to see clearly, the whole point of eye tracking,FR and the rest of the PSVR2 tech feels wasted — especially when PlayStation markets FR with "focus on the detail".

 

[GlamFM]

I get that FR works technically and doesn’t enhance sharpness, but if I still have to move my head to see clearly, the whole point of eye tracking,FR and the rest of the PSVR2 tech feels wasted — especially when PlayStation markets FR with "focus on the detail".

I'm not really sure you get it tbh. FR still works exactly as intended: it ensures the pixels you’re looking at are rendered at full detail, and it boosts performance as a result. That doesn’t magically erase optical limitations, but those are two independent issues.

Whether you move your whole head or just your eyes, FR is still tracking your gaze and ensuring that part of the image is rendered at full resolution. The benefit is consistent. The only thing that shifts is whether the lenses let you see that detail clearly across the whole field of view.

"focus on the detail" just means only render what I look at and that is exactly what FR does and what it was designed to do.

We're going in circles and I'm not entirely sure I'm not arguing with chatgpt here.

Anyway - let's move on.

 

[MetalApe]

The new Renault Avantime has a MASSIVE amount of interior space in front of the driver.

God knows how one would wash the inside of the glass. Apart from by placing a teenage child with cloth in hand in front of the steering wheel. That'd work

View attachment 1475272

You could try this method, not that it worked successfully for them here.

 

[jonoholland29]

I'm not really sure you get it tbh. FR still works exactly as intended: it ensures the pixels you’re looking at are rendered at full detail, and it boosts performance as a result. That doesn’t magically erase optical limitations, but those are two independent issues.

Whether you move your whole head or just your eyes, FR is still tracking your gaze and ensuring that part of the image is rendered at full resolution. The benefit is consistent. The only thing that shifts is whether the lenses let you see that detail clearly across the whole field of view.

"focus on the detail" just means only render what I look at and that is exactly what FR does and what it was designed to do.

We're going in circles and I'm not entirely sure I'm not arguing with chatgpt here.

Anyway - let's move on.

Before we move on... I think the eye tracking and FV rending implied that they work together. Realy the eye tracking is the useless feature (I've not used it for menus or anything, so useless to me) because the PSVR2 visuals only work when looking straight ahead due to the lenses.

 

[GlamFM]

Before we move on... I think the eye tracking and FV rending implied that they work together. Realy the eye tracking is the useless feature (I've not used it for menus or anything, so useless to me) because the PSVR2 visuals only work when looking straight ahead due to the lenses.

The underlying purpose of the eye tracking in PSVR2 is to enable foveated rendering. FR needs to know exactly where you’re looking in order to render that area at full resolution and save resources elsewhere. That’s where the performance gain and visual efficiency come from.

So even if you’re not directly “using” eye tracking in a way you notice, it’s still working in the background every second, making the system more efficient. The fact that some games don’t build extra menu gimmicks around it doesn’t mean the tech itself is wasted.

 

[newmedia_dev]

There is a whole bunch of variables, like people’s eyesight how wide there peripheral vision is, glasses/contacts.

If you stand 90 degrees to something and then just move your eyes to look, it will not be as clear as turning your head in real life.

Some of this isn’t even tech related but more how eyes work and brain process etc.

It’s one thing to glance down and look at the binnacles but it’s another to try and look in your side mirrors or look at the floating MFD.

If you match expectations to reality of when you drive a real car, you’ll notice that your head (and eyes in it) move way more towards where you need to look etc.

2p

 

[Lomic]

If you stand 90 degrees to something and then just move your eyes to look, it will not be as clear as turning your head in real life.

I don't agree with you, moving my eyes IRL allows me to view clearly a wide area without turning my head, of course if I need to look at something on the far margins of my field of view, I'll need to turn my head, but I'd say that everything comprised in a 90° cone in front of me are perfectly visible (and readable) by only moving my eyes.

Inside the headset it is a much thinner cone, like 30°

 

[newmedia_dev]

I don't agree with you, moving my eyes IRL allows me to view clearly a wide area without turning my head, of course if I need to look at something on the far margins of my field of view, I'll need to turn my head, but I'd say that everything comprised in a 90° cone in front of me are perfectly visible (and readable) by only moving my eyes.

Inside the headset it is a much thinner cone, like 30°

How comfortable is it to look sideways for more than a second? Factor in what you are looking at it’s moving relative to the stationary view point objects?

We see more clearly where our head moves especially when driving.

There is a lot of visual noise happening when racing like the scenery, Armco other cars etc.

Not disagreeing with you more that when you start to wrap context round it there is more at play than just the tech.

 

[GTRedman]

"focus on the detail" just means only render what I look at and that is exactly what FR does and what it was designed to do.

Well you didn't really acknowledge what I was saying which is basically the user experience doesn't match what was advertised

Anyway - let's move on.

OK

 

[Lomic]

I think that it is the fresnel lenses that don't work well with moving the eyes, and FR can't do miracles to overcome this.