Track IR 5 is out
 

Hi

I just spotted news about the Track IR 5 unit and new software being released. Link

I'm still on my old Track IR 2... :)

cheers Porphy

Meh... nothing REALLY new in it. :hmmm:

True, more of the same as far as I can see. Probably not a huge difference if you have track ir 4.

Myself I'm on model 2, so I would probably get some good value for a new unit. On the other hand, my old one still works in all the games where I want to use it. But I'm curious about the 6 dof experience, how good is it compared to using track IR without it?

cheers porphy

I like the 6DOF. Only really used it in BoB II & IL2, but it's nice to have the ability to raise your head and see over the nose when taking off or open the canopy and stick your head out (Only works in BoBII AFAIK).

I'd think the 6DOF is great on racing games, atleast from what I've seen, you can really move around in the pit, as you would in real life.

6DOF makes a huge difference in fully modelled 3D cockpit environment like for FS9/FSX. I wouldn't flightsim without it anymore. In race sims, I consider 6DOF to be irrelevant, almost, for you do not need to pan around in cockpit and check a thousand gauges that often. Indeed, in GTR2 and Nascar2003 as well as Richard Burns Rally I would say that two buttons on the wheel, letting oyu quick-look at 10 and 02 o-clock position, works as well as any headtracker alltogether.

If you race a lot, TrackIR is nice, but by no means a must. If you fly, it makes a bigger difference than you can ever imagine without having seen it yourself.

The old 2dof tracking required you to sit unnaturally still, as any movement would be read as head rotation, and magnified in view direction change.

With the 6dof tracking you can set relaxed movements at more-or-less 1:1 scaling, while keeping the rotations nice and sensitive - this allows much more freedom to move about, and to stretch while using it - which has to be a good thing...

This is true, even if you are only using it to drive a 2dof simulation.

And it's only $169...:haha:

I don't think so.

Thanks all for the input on 6DOF in racing and flying. I'm tempted to get me the 6dof capability, as I have been holding on to my old model for quite some time now.

Lieste, it's certainly very true that the old model I have makes me strain a bit too much to keep it still. And I don't like to have a big deadzone in center to counter that, as it also makes the use of the head tracking less natural. This might actually be the best reason for an upgrade.

Yes the price is a bit steep compared to building your own stuff. But I'm not that interested in doing that. I want it ready to plug in and go. :cool:

cheers Porphy

I'm using TeackIR 4. And it was like you wished it to be. Just later I fintetuned it a bit, with non-linear reaction curves.

Pretty much agree with Skybird on this. :yep: I only purchased my first head tracking product in the last couple of months. I bought the Track IR4 Pro as there was a good deal going on it at RCS Simulations. Not sure how I lasted this long without it. I do like using it in GTR2 but it is not essential. However my real reason for purchasing the track IR4 Pro was for DCS Blackshark which utilizes full 6DOF and given the workload placed upon the pilot in the fully detailed and clickable cockpit I thought that the Track IR would be essential.

I get the impression that the new Track IR5 doesn't offer much if anything extra over the older model that I purchased recently. That makes me feel better. :D

TIR was a huge advance over the old hat switch or number pad...

TIR2 added a bit more sensitivity and responsiveness, and was more able to cope with background lighting (but still a bit poor IMO).

TIR3 was an incremental update to TIR2, and OOTB wasn't much to write home about...

...but it did have an optional 'vector' expansion, which extended it to 6dof, with more freedom of movement while retaining sensitivity to head rotation, and for software that supported it (not much at release ;) the additional pan/zoom options.

TIR4 is just a repackaged TIR3/vector, with slightly updated electronics, and TIR5 - I guess is just more of the same...

Once it works properly then there isn't much more to do than make it work slightly faster, with slightly less sensitivity to other lights - which is probably the worst problem with it, if your environment is poor (or GF won't live in the dark with the curtains closed so you can drive your tank/sub/airplane - some of them are difficult like that :D)

I checked the specs for the new version 5. There are three main differences, it seems to me. First, the device and the USB-cable and monitor-hook are connected via magnets, you can take off the device but leave the cable and hook/base in place. Second, the optical resolution, in the final effect, has tripled, which should make it more precise than version 4. And third, they say they improved the filter which sorts out unwanted background light reflections that could irritate the scanner, which hopefully should make a noticable difference in rooms that are not dimmed.

LetumIR is still the market leader.

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=151301