Off to the Virtual Beach in GearVR Hint: Its Great!

After getting in touch with the folks from Mostly Human Studios regarding sitting on my butt at the beach in VR I was invited to check out the experience in GearVR.

Some of you might diss the Gear because its not positional, has no controllers and its “only” 60fps etc. but you haven’t tried Just Relax yet. The tracking is so solid, the resolution is better than my Vive and the combination of photogrammetry and CGI makes for an amazing beach scene.

You start out at mid-afternoon sitting by palm trees with waves lapping at your feet while a sail boat waits for high tide just behind you. Then, with a light tap to the touch pad at your temple, its sunset. Golden rays bathe the beach and the feeling of immersion deepens. Next, its full night with requisite stars overhead, full moon, as well as some artfully placed candle lanterns. Perfection in VR.

Before I knew it, I had been at the beach for 20 minutes in VR. The complete lack of, — well, anything — was amazingly restful after all the fake news coming out of DC, and other games wanting you to shoot zombies in the face or go into haunted houses at night. No thanks. I prefer to get my PTSD in real life, thank you very much.

So, before you scoff at mobile VR, check out the Just Relax app on the Oculus GearVR store, and pay the man his latte, cause its a great place to escape to after a stressful rainy day. Now if only there was a Corona cart nearby…