I just got my TrackIR today at work. The last couple days while my TrackIR was on the way, I started having some regrets that I ordered it. The biggest reason is I started thinking how unnatural it would be to move my head and how it might make me sick.
A little story just for fun...
When I was a young lad, I used to go over to my cousin's house a lot. Him and myself would play computer games a lot on his 386 computer. (I had my own 386 at home so we had a lot of the same games) My fear of game sickness stems from this age of computers. Wolfenstien... barf!!!! The 3D concept that Wolfenstien presented at that time was very unique. I would have to say that Wolfenstien started it all when it comes to 3d shooters. The way the movement occured though made me feel absolutely terrible. Another odd thing is I would get earaches when I played Wolfenstein lmao. Who knows if those earaches were just a coincidence or not, but I still fear the earaches of Wolfenstien lmao.
An now there is TrackIR. An unnatural feeling that could bring back the vivid memories of my past... or so I thought.
I tore the box open when I got home and assembled my new toy. I was hoping for more parts so I could spend some more time setting up, but unfortunately the setup was a breeze.
I sat down and fired up the TrackIR software... I saw a video of some guy using his TrackIR and moving his head around and there were the two heads on the screen mimicking him. Naturally I wanted that to be my first stop to ensure everything was working smoothly.
I get into "The Head Screen" and start moving my head around. Well the head was not working right to say the least. I centered and such and was like WTF!?!?!!? Like really... WTFF!?!!??!!? I mean it... I was going crazy!!! lol My head was flipping upside down and crap when I would turn my head to the side. Mind you I have the Track Clip Pro as well. After about 30 minutes of screwing around I finally figured out what was going on. For one I had my vector clip thing sitting on my table in front of me... and two I didn't have the Track Clip Pro actually enabled.
I enabled the Track Clip Pro in the default profile. I didn't figure out I had to change all of the profiles until I tried playing IL-2 and the head control was going haywire.
Lastly IL-2 was grinding to a chugging chopfest when I finally got the TrackIR working correctly. I guess it wasn't working exactly correctly lol. I did the priority fix and that seemed to solve the final issue.
So what are my final thoughts?
I am thrilled. The head tracking in-game actually feels completely natural. Getting used to this thing probably took about 10 minutes max. It was working so great I couldn't help but wonder if when I quit playing, my motor skills would be jacked up and I would turn my head just a little bit to try and see behind me. I can see some new kind of illness caused by this thing.
"Sorry Bobby," says the doctor. "I'm sorry, but it looks like you wil only be able to move your head in a 46 degree arc from now on. Ohh and your eyes will be stuck pointing straight ahead as well. Hang in there trooper!"
Excellent work. I wish it didn't cost so much, but hell I can crab about the price of a Diet Coke too. The darn truth is I believe you ask a fair price. This is a fine product. If there is one thing you can do to improve the product it is this. Include big red index cards with directions haha!! I think a lot of people are probably like me. They could care less about reading a manual... How hard can it be? Just like three cards that look really serious... Like danger red serious... with big black letters so people are scared to plug anything in without reading the cards.
Keep up the great work and I am sure I will buy from you again in the future. There will come a day when my cat rips my TrackIR 4 off my LCD and it will break. (The cat will pay dearly)