That’s where you can also find the official instructions for setting it up.A simple Reshade preset and shaders pack with smaller performance hit. Here’s hoping that folks use a similar strategy to reprise the game’s signature stunts, including the infamous Liquor Hole, in VR. That way I can try skydiving, for instance, without the hassle of making myself sick on the drive back to the airport. I intend to spend a little more time in-game this week, queuing up little experiences across multiple save files. It’s more like a new game-plus mode, one that gives me the ability to boot GTA 5 up with or without VR.
What I’m most pleased with is that the mod isn’t a total conversion. I’m still not sure that it’s worth it, but I mean to find out soon. There is a way to disable the alternate-eye rendering, but at the expense of losing the 3D effect. After about an hour my stomach just couldn’t take any more. The visual experience is right up there with War Thunder, which supports VR headsets natively for its own aircraft.īut alternate-eye rendering definitely does not agree with me. Turns out that the cockpits are realistically detailed and scaled to fit the player character. I was especially impressed at how well the mod handled GTA 5’s collection of aircraft. Taking that trip in VR felt just like taking it in an Uber. That facility is clearly modeled after Los Angeles International Airport, a place I’ve been through at least a dozen times over the years. There were also moments of deja vu, including my trip to the Los Santos airport inside a taxi. I also earned a new respect for the artists at Rockstar Games, who created some gorgeous car interiors. Leaning down over the handlebars of a high-powered sport bike in first-person, racing through oncoming traffic in VR, is incredible. Add in the other little stutters and imperfections that come with hacking something like this into an existing video game, and it was not a comfortable experience. Sitting idle doing bong rips in Franklin’s apartment was fine, but hitting top speed on the highway and turning my head to admire the view of the coastline left me wanting to barf all over my office. Things aren’t quite as crisp and, occasionally, it felt like I was seeing double. It’s especially evident when you look to your left or right while driving. There’s a bit of lag between what the right and left eye is seeing. Suffice it to say, the effect is not ideal. So, the creator of REAL cheated with something called “ alternate-eye rendering.” For an open-world adventure game as complex as GTA 5, 180 fps simply isn’t realistic. Multiply by two - one screen for each eye - and you end up at 180 fps, which is a herculean task even for modest video games. To make it comfortable, a game needs to keep serving up those images at a rate of about 90 frames per second. To create a stereoscopic 3D effect in virtual reality, you have to show each of a player’s eyes a slightly different image. Then I stepped out the front door, put on a crash helmet, and took off on a high-powered motorcycle. It felt every bit like the other pre-fabricated penthouses that come with most VR headsets, just without the accompanying shovelware. The experience was surprisingly authentic. I spent a few minutes lounging around, watching in-fiction television programs, and looking through Franklin’s telescope. That’s where I found the virtual bong, all loaded up and ready to go. Īfter running a quick batch file to select the mod’s quality settings, I was able to start walking around inside Franklin’s endgame safe house on Whispymound Drive straight away.
You can find a complete installation tutorial, plus links to all the files you need, on YouTube courtesy of Virtual Reality Oasis. After installing the mod, I was off to the races. I lost my old save file, so I grabbed someone else’s from a database online. Then I downloaded the mod, which is completely free.
Step one was to start with a fresh install of GTA 5.
Just an hour of gameplay last week laid me out sick for the rest of the night.Īfter about an hour of updating drivers and tweaking my headset, getting the software itself set up was remarkably easy. The mod’s creators had to cut some corners to make the game compatible with modern head-mounted displays like the Rift and the Vive, however.
A new mod called REAL brings virtual reality to Grand Theft Auto 5, meaning you can finally visit Los Santos for fully immersive first-person bong rips in VR.