I disagree with the bolded part -- or at least want to point out its implications.As noted above - it's reliable enough for most part - although I did not have as positive an impression of fast motions - but again that's difficult to put in VR frame of reference, as opposed to AR (the latter is easier to break )
With AR, when your tracking breaks, objects jitter.
With VR, when your tracking breaks, people puke.
So, while it might be easier to break AR, breaking VR tracking is far more severe in terms of consequences. In AR people have a real world reference that prevents their internal systems from going haywire.
That's something still not clear to many (I often see them call the base stations the "lighthouse cameras"), and the true engineering beauty of the system.It has nothing to do with that, it depends on where the sensors are. The Lighthouses are 100% dumb devices that does not need to talk to the headset or the computer in any way. They only blast lasers into the playspace so the headset can use that to position itself. Its 100% real inside out tracking with markers.
These microsoft headsets are also inside out but markerless, which has so far not really been a feasible solution. So it will be pretty cool if they work well in peoples homes with all the variations of furnishing and lighting conditions. But it has a big issue, its fairly expensive so you cant just stick it to the controllers which is a big issue for gaming.
I'll happily admit that I've been and continue to be a massive lighthouse fan since I first heard about it. It's so damn elegant, effective and extensible while producing rock-solid results.
You don't "flail your arms around" in VR, unless you would like to.We'll see what happens with Fallout. The ability to be IN the Fallout world without having to flail your arms around at an enemy seems like an amazing experience. It would be the same thing as playing in first-person, except the world is all around you instead of on the tv in front of you.
You interact naturally with existing objects, in a way which both (a) increases immersion and (b) allows far more delicate, varied and complex inputs far more easily than any traditional control scheme.
When you aim at two different enemies in fully tracked VR, while leaning around an obstacle, that's not cumbersome, it's not flailing, and it doesn't require 3 analog sticks and 12 buttons. You just do it, and it feels amazing.