Sony PlayStation VR2 hands-on: Thoroughly impressive

The Sony PlayStation VR2 is a massive improvement over the previous model, which launched almost six years ago.

Sony is about to launch its PlayStation VR2 headset in February. Our writer manages to try it in a hands-on event. Here are his impressions.

[Thundercat77]

I honestly didn't expect so much praise for PSVR2 but I'm very impressed for the previews and hands-on as the general consensus is that is AMAZING 🙌

[SullysCigar]

It seems like PSVR2 to gelling much more with people that have previously not been that bothered about VR. Maybe it's the ultra crisp visuals, or the comfort.

Even the YouTube airheads (that know next to nothing about the technology and can't appreciate how far it's come) are super hyped from their playtests and looking at the choice of games. The reception has been stellar across the board.

[Thundercat77]

Low quality visuals and horrible setup configuration was what turned me off of PSVR 1 but now that everything is totally improved, it is the best to jump into VR

[DickyD1226]

@Thundercat77

Honestly the first one was such a hard sell for me. Bought it when it was in sale one time and was thoroughly impressed.

[ApocalypseShadow]

I knew that it would not only be great, but gamers waiting for increased quality would jump at the chance to try the next Sony headset. It won't be just PSVR owners. But gamers on PC, Quest and no VR at all would jump in. GT7 spontaneous preorders by those that love the game but never tried PSVR are jumping in.

The headset definitely has potential of outselling PSVR quite easily. Doesn't have to sell one to one with PS5. Just better than the first with even more Sony profit that would lead them to finance other hybrid and new AAA games and Indies.

Sony's bringing the real high fidelity VR to consoles.

[phoenixwing]

I was thinking of purchasing it myself after hearing how much less there is when it comes to motion sickness.

[Profchaos]

I'm counting down the days for this to arrive I'm so excited all the coverage had been ultra positive and the only negative news is only related to its price but for me that shouldn't be part of the conversation given that the psvr 1 plus accessories and camera was pretty close in price. Backwards compatibility wouldn't work natively with the tracking so for me that's also not a huge negative as most of my psvr1 games feel and look very dated and I'm but interested in revisiting them anyway

[z2g]

I’m sure it’s awesome, but I’m still not gonna buy one. That’s too pricey for an early adopter video game experiment and pretty much all the vr devices I bought (og psvr, vive, etc quest 2) ended up sitting unused in a closet after a few months of use at most.

I’m sure there will be some cool titles and admittedly I’d love to play gt7 in vr but I can’t escape the feeling that most of the titles will be low rent vr standards. Various clones of games like thumper or beat saber, fruit ninja etc. the OG psvr lineup didn’t exactly blow me away in quality or quantity. I know psvr 2 will be way better from a hardware standpoint, but at this point in my historical vr career, I’m skeptical that I would get an abundant amount of AAA experiences that I would need to justify the price tag after already spending $$500 on the ps5 itself.

You’re all certainly free to disagree.

[ApocalypseShadow]

You got to look at the positives.

When Sony did PSVR, it was thrown together tech from different generations. An experiment. PS VR 2 isn't thrown together. Every piece was thought about at the same time as PS5.

The 3D sound is coming from PS5. A dedicated sound chip. No breakout box like before. Sony also knew that they needed an edge to jump ahead to have higher quality games. Notice how PC headsets don't have eye tracking as standard when they should to reduce the load. It's standard in every PS VR 2. Allowing better visuals compared to last Gen. That's not by accident.

Analog sticks are standard. That means any game big or small, mobile or PC can be brought to PS VR 2. EVERY GAME. Developers complained on how to get motion controls working even though developers like Bethesda came up with a great solution on Skyrim. Now, no compromises are needed. No worrying about how Move Controllers will play against mobile and PC controllers when online.

Even though PSVR got Hitman 3, Skyrim, GT Sport, RE7, Borderlands, etc. PS VR 2 is already getting PS5 games like GT7 and RE8 at launch. Ask yourself what headset maker can get top games and has franchise that fill up warehouses? ByteDance? No. HTC? No. Valve has money but they aren't making anything or have dozens of franchises like Sony. Facebook has money. But Quest 2 hasn't gotten any big name franchises. Most of it can't even run like Skyrim VR from 2016 that PSVR did. Sony could make games from Killzone to Resistance to GOW to Ape Escape to Siren to... Are you getting my meaning? Those other headsets don't even have a laundry list of franchises like Sony. Or something huge like Spider-Man that can be made by Insomniac. The Last of Us could be made in VR. Even though Sony is investing in third parties for VR, they have their own list that dwarfs any other VR company.

But who says you have to buy the smaller indie games? Just buy the bigger ones. Problem solved. And even if Sony only sells 15 million or 20 million, as long as they profit, that's 10-15 million more headsets sold than PSVR. That's growing the VR market. It doesn't need to go main stream. Just sell well. Wii and Kinect went mainstream. Where are they now? It's better to concentrate on a core audience. If it does reach casuals, great. But it's the core that matters at the end of the day.

[MrNinosan]

I can't see it sell 15-20 million, but anything above 6-7 million is a success.

If it sells more, I'm of course happy about that, but I don't even think Sony has in mind a 1:5/6 ratio on PSVR2.

[Thundercat77]

@Apocalypse Shadow

Good analysis 👏

[StormSnooper]

I personally base it on how much fun I have playing the games, and to be honest, VR is the best video gaming experience I have had in some time now. The only thing that made the go PSVR less appealing to me was the difficulty of use, especially with the move controllers tracking issues.

All that is a thing of the past. The new controllers seem to be leaps and bounds better. The headset is state of the art, and offers what even some of the best VR headsets out there do not. I am personally, all in!

bring on the GT7, Moss, Pavlov, RE8, Demeo and hopefully a lot more to come.

[MrNinosan]

I'd would also suggest Switchback, Call of the Mountain, No Mans Sky and Kayak VR: Mirage

[Rude-ro]

As a smart shopper in tech world, nothing wrong at all with holding out to see how the support plays out.
Content makes gaming devices worth while…

But with Sony, they at least have a very solid history of providing content with their gaming hardware.

[StormSnooper]

oh god don't tease meehh pleaaaase

[Bathyj]

If Spider-Man 2 comes out with a VR mode this thing is all over

[gold_drake]

cant wait for mine to finally arrive :)

[talocaca]

It honestly looks awesome and much more refined than the first unit.

[Thundercat77]

In every way

[DrDoomer]

put this on me pls!

[S2Killinit]

And that is why the wait gets more difficult as we get closer…

[darkrider]

It's really amazing. Never thought kayak vr could be such fun. Anybody that can, should try. The jump in quality from psvr 1 to psvr 2 is enormous.

[frostypants]

If I'm Sony, I develop PC drivers for this thing at some point. It sounds like it would be very competitive in the PC VR market. I get wanting to keep it tied to the PS5 for at least a bit, but it really does sound like a game changer in and of itself. Sony could take over the broader non-casual VR headset market with this.