Size of things in VR

[PRB]

An interesting piece here: [BUG/FEATURE] Cockpit Size and World Scale in VR - Virtual Reality (VR) / VR Wishlist - Microsoft Flight Simulator Forums

I've been poking holes in the sky for a while now with my new HP reverb G2, and I have to say the experience is quite amazing. But I have noticed one thing: In some planes, the cockpit seems small. I first noticed this in the P-38. Looking at the throttle quadrant, I thought surely it's bigger than that in real life... But I've never sat in a P-38, or even ever laid eyes on the actual throttle quadrant. Maybe it's just smaller than I thought. Then I tried the MB-339. I have sat in the cockpit of jets of similar vintage, and I'm pretty sure the control stick, and therefore the rest of the cockpit, is about 80% "actual size". According to the article linked above, I'm not imagining things, and it isn't just the cockpit, it's the entire world. In FSX/P3D/FS9 the +/- keys zoom and un-zoom the world, but in this sim those keys do different things.

[Daube]

I think the scale of things you see in VR might be depending on your adjustment of the distance between your eyes (pupils ? I forgot the technical name). Not sure anymore if this is true...

In any case, if something feels out of scale in VR, chances are it IS actually out of scale. I remember quite a few cockpits in P3D were out of scale, simply due to bad modeling. One helicopter from Virtavia for example, had a cockpit that was almost as large as a 737 cockpit This wasn't really a problem before, but VR kind of "revealed" it.
To me, this "world scale adjustment" thing sound like some workaround that shouldn't really exist, in my opinion.

[Tom Clayton]

It seems like I remember that someone in the know stated that Asobo is looking at a zoom slider for VR. I don't fly with the goggles, so I didn't really pay attention.

[DC1973]

The size of some cockpits is incredibly small. I'm working on the F-16C and it feels like sitting in a go-kart. I was convinced I'd got it wrong somehow, but some research revealed that the MFD screens in that cockpit are just 4" wide - mine were the same. Sitting in other cockpits in museums etc confirmed the cramped nature of many aircraft cockpits.

I think that, as mentioned, in the past it was possible for developers to model a cockpit at the incorrect size, but it's much easier to keep track of these things in modern software and also the way that MSFS builds aircraft - the cockpit is a separate model but is set to "allow the exterior model to be visible". The result is that cockpit must match the exterior, which is much easier to ensure size in development.

Not saying that VR is perfect or anything, but I suspect it's just the way airplanes are. Even a Piper Warrior is extremely small in real life ( same interior size as a small car - I was always bumping elbows with my instructor ).

[keithb77]

I'm with the OP on this one, certain aircraft have very small-scale cockpits and fittings, it's mostly freeware aircraft so maybe something to do with the 3D software used?

As an example the new SE5a - it's like my head is above a half-scale cockpit, the control grip isn't big enough for anything larger than a child's hand and the instruments are to the same scale.
But the airframe and especially the Lewis gun on the wing above are definitely full size. Compared with the SE5a in Flying Circus it's like a cartoon aircraft.

It's not the IPD as suggested earlier as that would affect all aircraft.

I remember one aircraft that was widely felt to be too small and the developer rescaled it, but I can't remember which it was...

[LouP]

I'm in the feels to small crowd myself. I usually am able to judge it by the instrument gauges. The first thing I notice is that the round gauges look as large as silver dollars. Don't think they had the technology to make them that small. This is then confirmed by a look at the yoke. I get the feeling I got the first time I went to visit my grade school after I grew up (couldn't do that these days) But my thought was man those desks got small.

LouP

[PRB]

The article in the link in post #1 does say that some of this is headset dependent. It says the HP Reverb G2 seems to make everything smaller, and that the Valve Index shows things "actual" size, or "correct" size. I have the HP G2. A "VR scale" slider in the sim would be a great thing to have.

@DC1973: Have you ever seen the cockpit of an A-4? It's tiny! Just a couple feet wide at the canopy.

[DC1973]

The article in the link in post #1 does say that some of this is headset dependent. It says the HP Reverb G2 seems to make everything smaller, and that the Valve Index shows things "actual" size, or "correct" size. I have the HP G2. A "VR scale" slider in the sim would be a great thing to have.

@DC1973: Have you ever seen the cockpit of an A-4? It's tiny! Just a couple feet wide at the canopy.

That would make a lot of sense - my Oculus Rift seems to show everything quite accurately so that may be why opinions differ on this.

I haven't sat in an A4 but I once sat in a Hunter and it was incredibly cramped, enough so that I could barely get into it ( I'm 6ft 1 ). Fighter cockpits aren't built for comfort, that's for sure

[keithb77]

That would require that all aircraft are wrong, but almost all aircraft are fine for me (Quest 2) ... the Just Flight Hunter is perfect.
I've flown Chipmunks, Cessnas and many gliders and sat in a Hurricane, Vampire and Phantom so I've an idea what it should be like.

However some are unquestionably underscale in the cockpit, it's not the width it's the size of the elements - get the free SE5a from flightsim.to and check that.
It would be good to get a test from all headset types of just that one aircraft