So, this is for all of you who may have a PSVR2, or even PSVR1, but never bothered to play any other games on the set other than VR-games. To my astonishment, PSVR does make things much more immersive than your regular TV screen. Hear me out. Today I accidentally decided to do a run on TSW2 on RSN with my PSVR1 headset. As I was finishing up a PSVR1 game just prior, I thought I simply test what the PSVR1 can offer in terms of game experience for a flatscreen game. I know that PSVR1 doesn't have as clear resolution as a modern TV or PSVR2, but went for it anyway. I set the visual settings of the screen inside the PSVR1 to Large. This large screen is very big and resembles a cinema screen view. This can also be done in PSVR2, albeit the largest setting here is somewhat smaller than the large size in PSVR1, but it's still larger than even the biggest TVs. With this setting I booted up TSW2. Lo and behold, while it wasn't VR, it felt somewhat like VR because at least in PSVR1, even though you are in a flatscreen mode, there are certain elements that do protrude ever so slightly from the "flatscreen" making it seem like soft elemenets from VR are there. It could be due to the grainy nature of the filter that's in the PSVR1... This light VR sensation and the size of the screen made the immersion of "being there" unmistakable. Not only that, the size of the loco, wagons, buildings and the environment in general felt like true 1:1 scale with reality. The sheer size of the BR143 felt like I was literally standing outside the real train. Switching the view to outside the train, being there right next to the BR143 as it was dragging that heavy haul, the headset and the sounds, really made it feel like I was right there. I am not joking. This particular run was done in a full snow storm, so the "bad visual quality" from the PSVR1, which must be added, was somewhat smoothed out. I did a run on Aachen - Koln afterwards, with the ICE-train, in clear midday weather, and the pixels/grainy visuals were very noticeable which made the experience less immersive than the RSN run in the snow storm. I then decided to switch to my PSVR2. The image quality on this set really is something. The crispness and quality of the regular flatscreen here feels almost as crisp as a modern flatscreen TV, albeit with a cinema size view! But, because the quality in the PSVR2 is so much better than in the PSVR1, the VR-protrusion of certain elements that is present in PSVR1, while in flatscreen mode, seems to be completely gone in PSVR2. Nevertheless, PSVR2 having the quality it has, I went and did a run with Talent 2 on Dresden - Riesa. Just having the screen of that size, and the quality being what it is, the immersion is quite noticeable even in PSVR2 than just playing the game on a regular screen. I have to admit, this was quite something! If you haven't tried it and own PSVR1 or PSVR2, or both, I definitely recommend trying this. It definitely added that something extra to the driving experience. I still can't shake off that immersive feeling of operating that BR143 heavy haul, with the headset on, and the view at an angle outside the train, with BR143 in full view. This was amazing! Knowing that there are no plans to implement VR option for TSW, at least not for PS, this was pretty good imo! Anyway, thought I'd share these "findings"!
Personally I own both PSVR1 and PSVR2. I do enjoy my TSW-playing but have never before attempted to use any of the sets for flatscreen gaming. Until I tried the above with TSW2. It was quite interesting tbh!
I have tried using the cinema mode on the PSVR1 but found that the resolution was too low to enjoy it. I used to really enjoy using the PSVR but when I moved house I didn't have the space to keep on using it, but I wish I had because I missed Minecraft in VR which has been recently removed. Unfortunately I suffer with motion sickness and so anything with movement is out of the question. Gran Turismo Sport was okay as long as I kept facing forwards, but Driveclub VR was awful. Any games where you have to move the player without teleporting were also unplayable for me. Job Simulator and Astro Bot: Rescue Mission were great though.
Yeah, I did notice that for the cinema mode in PSVR1 for TSW2 when driving a route in clear daylight, the quality wasn't good. It was way too pixely and grainy. Though, as I explained above, the experience was quite different in snow storm conditions where the colors maintained a white/greyish color everywhere. While it wasn't perfect, things blended quite well visually. As far as playing games in VR, I suffer with motion sickness in the beginning, and if I haven't played in a while, but eventually I adapt to it. But, what I can say is that PSVR1 produces motion sickness easier than PSVR2 due to lower resolution and lower quality. The sweet spot in PSVR1 is tiny. You literally have to look straight to enjoy perfect visuals. If you as much as start looking to the sides without turning your head, you can sense discomfort. Though in games where you have to move/walk the motion sickness will have to be overcome by playing consistently for short periods of time until the body and the mind get used to it. No way around that unfortunately. Though as you mentioned, there are games that do not produce motion sickness at all. PSVR2 though, it is totally different! I think you would have enjoyed it. The quality in the PSVR2 is a different ballpark. Like, very much different. There is no camera to be mounted, there is no eye-to-eye measurement setup and only one single usb-c cable going from the PSVR2 into the front of the PS5. Also the motion controllers are fantastic. For eye measurement you have a wheel on the PSVR2, just like on the binoculars, to set your distance. Everything is super simple. The visual quality in the cinema mode is something else in the PSVR2. I mean, you can hardly tell the different between this and your modern TV with high resolution 4K type of thing. It really is something. It's clear, crisp and the sweet spot is basically everywhere. You can look wherever you want instead of moving your head and the clarity will not decrease significantly. Maybe slightly at the very edges if you are trying to look 90 degrees to your sides while facing forward. The screen is way wider also and you don't feel like looking through binoculars like you do in PSVR1. Then again, it will all depend on the game and how it was made. Some games are crisp and clear, while other still carry some of that PSVR1 look; grainy and pixely.
