There's a lot riding on PlayStation VR as the mainstream champion of virtual reality.
Though it arrived half a year later than the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive, the fact there were already almost 50 million PS4 consoles in people's living room (and now just over that number) meant it had a distinct advantage. How many people do you know who could afford more to drop than $1,000 on a PC and high-end headset? How many people do you know who could afford a PS VR? Exactly.
Essential reading: Best PlayStation VR games
Price when reviewed:$399.99Check current price
But that also means it will be most people's introduction to 'good' VR. With compromises made on the hardware to achieve that price, PlayStation VR is not perfect, but it's going after console gamers hard and ultimately, it is still a truly awesome PS4 accessory. What's more, now five months since launch, the library is much stronger with some must-have titles that feel like complete games, not merely demos to showcase the potential of this technology. Oh yeah, and all of this seems to be paying off nicely when you look at how well the system is selling.
Right now, the HTC Vive still stands as the benchmark of high-end VR, although the Oculus Rift is barely trailing behind, and is set to have some pretty fantastic games later this year. PLAYSTATION VR CAMERA is mainstream VR right now - so is it worth jumping in?
Sony has found a good balance in terms of keeping the PS VR practical and accessible; it's maybe not as plug-and-play as we'd like, but it's a darn sight easier to put together than the Vive. Just set up your PlayStation Camera first – this is sold separately but required to play, not an extra like the Move controllers – then follow the instructions to connect all the correct cables from the Processor Unit to your PS4.
The main thing to remember is that this box becomes a pass-through for your HDMIs – one goes from the TV into the unit, another from the unit to the PS4. One small niggle: this does affect HDR performance on your TV, so you'll want to switch it off when you're done with the headset.
Then you connect the headset itself to the Processor Unit – we'd recommend going with the longer cable here so you can turn around comfortably – and power on the PlayStation VR via the in-line controls, which also include volume and mic buttons.
That's pretty much it, and while we've perhaps made it sound easy, there are still a lot of cables to manage. If you're a little precious about having no wires in the living room, it's tricky to make everything look neat. However, because it doesn't use the same play space as the Vive, you probably won't be moving much furniture around, if any, to make room for the PS VR. There's no room mapping needed, you just need to tinker with the Camera to line it up with your head and make sure there's nothing in swinging distance for you to break. Sony recommends playing PS VR seated rather than standing, sitting five feet from the Camera with enough room on either side for you to lunge/duck/turn.
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It helps if your PS4 is close to your TV as the standard PlayStation Camera wire is pretty short and this needs to both hook up to your console and be able to see your face.
All in all, setup is reasonably straightforward, and a few months on, we've had few reasons to disconnect any of the kit. As we said, you can turn off the Processor Unit without disconnecting any wires, so there's no reason to unplug PS VR once it's all set up.
You always know where you are with the menus – once you've downloaded some VR games (which can take a while) they just appear in your regular PS4 menu for you to select. This appears in VR too using PlayStation's Cinematic Mode – it's a 2D screen floating in blank 3D space and you can press the PS button on your DualShock to quit apps and games and get back to it at any time, which is reassuring.
