I tried the HTC Vive, but I’m still not convinced I need VR in my life

I just got my hands on the new HTC Vive at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. It was my first taste of VR. As slick as the the Vive is, it won’t be the first VR gadget I buy.

The SteamVR-powered Vive will cost US$799 once it comes out on April 1, making it a toy that costs twice as much as a PS4.

You get quite a bit of kit with the Vive, as explained to me by a friendly HTC staffer at the MWC booth, where attendees formed a queue to try the newest VR contender. Aside from the weighty headset, the price includes two tracking boxes that can monitor you moving around a room as well as a pair of hand-tracking sticks.

Before I strapped on the Vive, I watched someone use those sticks to create virtual artwork using Tilt Brush.

a portrait of the VR artist as a young man. #HTCVIVE #MWC16 pic.twitter.com/omWzJGxjTN

— Steven Millward (@SirSteven) February 23, 2016

Rather than wandering around awkwardly dabbing an imaginary paintbrush on a palette, I opted to try Elite: Dangerous on the Vive, sat down in front of two controllers – ones that will cost you extra. The one on the left is throttle for speed, accompanied by a fighter jet-style joystick to allow me to control the spacecraft as I attempted to shoot down an enemy.

The first things I noticed about the Vive were the sheer weight of it and the noticeable pixels in front of my eyes. Despite a resolution of 2160 x 1200 – the same as the Oculus Rift – the pixels were obvious. I can’t see the pixels on my Macbook Pro, my phone, or my laptop, so it’s a pity that the top VR gadgets cannot pack enough density into the 110-degree screens to make them the kind of “Retina” quality that we now expect from new gadgets.

The next thing I noticed was something deep in my solar plexus – a very urgent and perplexing feeling of imbalance even though I knew I was sitting down. I didn’t get motion sickness, but it felt very unsettling as I steered the spacecraft and felt I was about to tumble sideways off the chair. Losing control of the craft – and totally losing track of my enemy, who eventually shot me down with ease – made the fleeting feelings of imbalance worse.