Hardware for Sims

The use of VR headsets is impressive because of the 3D representation (if it works in a technically stable way), but it also comes with a big compromise: you cannot work with physical materials. Operating real controls is difficult and documents such as flight plans, written VOR lists, etc. cannot be used.
Head tracking offers the option of visual control (the virtual view in and out of the cockpit) without losing sight of the real environment.

TrackIR software. The TrackIR system from NaturalPoint has become very well established. It costs about 150 € to 230 €, depending on the equipment and the market situation. As with all successful products, there are many (at first glance identical) imitators. Here you can be lucky to save something, but at the same time the risk increases with the lower price.

The latest driver software can be found here at NaturalPoint.

After the installation (and not before!) the tracking system is connected and the TrackIR software is started:

The tracking cross with the three reflectors is attached to a baseball cap.

TrackIR CAP with markers

TrackIR Camera Sensor. The camera or TrackIR sensor can be easily piggybacked on a webcam and thus has the optimal position.

When the hardware is correctly recognised, a representation of the head appears with 6 degrees of freedom: right/left, forward/back, up/down, rotate left/right, tilt left/right and tilt forward/back. A total of 6 axes are available.

After the head is aligned in the normal position, F12 saves this as the neutral position. The speed can be left at 1 for the time being (reduce it slightly if necessary). I like to set the smoothing to the maximum (50).

The neutral position can also be reset at any time during the game with F12. The same goes for pausing with F9 or the fine mode with F7.