Alton Towers Discussion Thread

[Fooz]

Sounds great to me! I like the theme, and the coaster sounds like a great fit. Looking down and up at the virtual space is going to be very cool. Modern VR sets are very good at showing dark spaces convincingly too, with deep blacks and rich colors. I won't be surprised if this refit surprises a lot of people here.

[KarlaKoaster]

I'm cautiously optimistic about this as a one-off ride experience, but I'm not sure I'll be doing the VR every time I ride.

 

One of the things I'm a bit disappointed about is the fact that there will be shoulder straps to restrict the movement of your head to either side so that there is less movement for the headset to track. I know you can still look up and down, but for me the fact you could look all around you was a big selling point.

 

It will also be interesting how broken headsets will be dealt with. I guess they can detach them and replace them fairly easily?

[chickenbowl]

I don't imagine that I would personally enjoy a VR experience on a coaster. As an enthusiast, I may be particular with how I ride coasters. But I would still love to try it at least once, I imagine the experience to be very unique and strange. As long as I can try the coaster without the headset I have no problems with the system.

 

^ Cautiously optimistic is a great way to express my feelings about it too!

[Fooz]

I'm cautiously optimistic about this as a one-off ride experience, but I'm not sure I'll be doing the VR every time I ride.

 

One of the things I'm a bit disappointed about is the fact that there will be shoulder straps to restrict the movement of your head to either side so that there is less movement for the headset to track. I know you can still look up and down, but for me the fact you could look all around you was a big selling point.

 

It will also be interesting how broken headsets will be dealt with. I guess they can detach them and replace them fairly easily?

 

The straps they're talking about are the OSTR's, and they're talking about positional movement, not rotational. The GearVR (the headset they're using) can't track positional movement (like walking, or leaning side-to-side) but it can track rotational movement (moving your head&neck to look around). Because of this, a ride with OSTR's is the ideal environment for this type of headset.

 

So you'll be able to look with the same amount of freedom you can on any flying coaster.

 

They have the same system on the VR coasters at CW and Europa on a ride without OSTR's, and the system can't track your leaning in the car, but I haven't heard anyone complain about that anyways, actually.

[RCT3Bross]

Sound like an interesting take. Glad to hear it's optional, I really like the idea but I hope parks worldwide will keep in mind this isn't for everyone.

[Purplepills]

It will also be interesting how broken headsets will be dealt with. I guess they can detach them and replace them fairly easily?

 

According to the Twitter feed they will be cleaned after every use so I'd guess they have several in circulation at once? Thats a LOT of cleaning though.

 

Is this the VR where the display itself is removable from a plastic shell? So they would have say 100 displays and hundreds of shells and swap them over for cleaning? Is this how it works? Or would they just have loads of complete units?

 

[KarlaKoaster]

I'm cautiously optimistic about this as a one-off ride experience, but I'm not sure I'll be doing the VR every time I ride.

 

One of the things I'm a bit disappointed about is the fact that there will be shoulder straps to restrict the movement of your head to either side so that there is less movement for the headset to track. I know you can still look up and down, but for me the fact you could look all around you was a big selling point.

 

It will also be interesting how broken headsets will be dealt with. I guess they can detach them and replace them fairly easily?

 

The straps they're talking about are the OSTR's, and they're talking about positional movement, not rotational. The GearVR (the headset they're using) can't track positional movement (like walking, or leaning side-to-side) but it can track rotational movement (moving your head&neck to look around). Because of this, a ride with OSTR's is the ideal environment for this type of headset.

 

So you'll be able to look with the same amount of freedom you can on any flying coaster.

 

They have the same system on the VR coasters at CW and Europa on a ride without OSTR's, and the system can't track your leaning in the car, but I haven't heard anyone complain about that anyways, actually.

 

At the press event they said the technology is from Figment Productions, and specifically said that you will be able to look up and down but there will be straps to make it harder to look to the sides "to reduce the need for the VR headsets to track the body's movements as well as the coasters", so it's different to the one at Europa Park.

[Fooz]

I'm reasonably confident that it was an awkward way of phrasing the convenience of using a ride with OSTR's. Especially since they referred to them as "shoulder straps", which of course already exist on the ride.

 

This kind of headset uses all-directional accelerometers for movement tracking, so restricting rotational movement would provide no sensing or computing benefit anyways.

 

In fact, here's the prototype:

 

 

There are tethers to keep the headset from falling off the ride, but nothing restrictive.

 

 

If they really have straps which restrict head movement, I'll eat my hat I suppose.

[KarlaKoaster]

You're probably right in that case, and they either worded it poorly at the press event, or it was misunderstood. Hopefully not hats will need to be eaten.

Edited January 12, 2016 by KarlaKoaster

[coasterkid124]

Alton Towers is definitely doing the right thing making it optional. I feel like probably only 50% of riders will be wearing the headsets once the "new factor" dies down. Forcing people to put on headsets would definitely take a bunch of ridership away in the long run.

[Picto81]

Cautiously optimistic is a great way of describing how I will approach this coaster. Give that girl a high five

 

I didn't plan on visiting AT this year what with The Smiler being down, but might have to make the 400 mile round trip to test this and the new restaurant out, but only when The Smiler re-opens.

[Henry M]

I do not own any of the pictures.

New theming is much needed.

Weeeeeee!

Looks as if there will be improvements to the station. The dispatch times will be slower now and the dual loading will come into its element.

Branding for the ride.

It seems they are changing air into what it was meant to be. Who remembers the Air ads?

[Awesomefaceninja7]

I do not own any of the pictures.

 

Looks like you might be changing your avatar soon, ha ha...

[cfc]

I would try the VR once, but I don't think I will do well with it. Motion simulators make me ill. Air is probably the perfect first 'big' ride to get this as it's pretty tame.

 

I wasn't too impressed with Air, but it was the first of its kind. I'm also not a fan of VR, but I'm willing to give it a shot.

[805Andrew]

I'm curious to see how this turns out.

[cal1br3tto]

I have to side with others and say I'm glad it's optional. It seems like a given to me that it would be, but I'm still relieved to see it confirmed. I've always suspected I'd be uninterested in these experiences, but I can't say for sure yet!

[cfc]

Custom engineered hygiene solutions

 

Hmm--to keep the VR gear clean or to clean up potential "protein spills"?

[TheCoasterKid211]

Looking at this picture, the question of a launch comes back up once more. This looks AWESOME!

[Henry M]

I do not own any of the pictures.

 

Looks like you might be changing your avatar soon, ha ha...

 

Haha!

[cfc]

Looking at this picture, the question of a launch comes back up once more. This looks AWESOME!

 

It does imply a launch, which would be pretty cool for a flying coaster.

[viking86]

Maybe a tunnel at the bottom of the first drop? Looks really cool anyway...

[KingRCT3]

It does imply a launch, which would be pretty cool for a flying coaster.

 

It also does imply a starry night sky. I'd be cautious about such a concept art.

 

By the way, as it has already happened to Air before, what happens when the ride get stuck for a long moment and you have your VR headset on?

[Philrad71]

Looks interesting!

 

As others have said, I would give it a try, but I'm not sure as to how I would react. I know my partner would definitely sit this one out (or go without the VR) as the Harry Potter ride at IoA made him ill.

[I305forever]

Meh.

[Purplepills]

It does imply a launch, which would be pretty cool for a flying coaster.

 

It also does imply a starry night sky. I'd be cautious about such a concept art.

 

By the way, as it has already happened to Air before, what happens when the ride get stuck for a long moment and you have your VR headset on?

 

It automatically skypes a journalist who works for The Daily Mail so they can quote you in an article about how dangerous roller coasters are.