Speaker A
You think 72 FPS is not enough for sim racing in VR. You think that you need 90 or 120 FPS to make VR feel good. When we race on screens, we're used to 144 hertz or even more. So when Pimax released the
SimRacing Arnout explains why 72 FPS in VR is sufficient for sim racing despite common beliefs favoring higher FPS like 90 or 120.
Key Takeaways
- 72 FPS is sufficient for VR sim racing when the brain focuses on relevant visual information.
- Higher FPS like 120 can degrade picture quality due to necessary resolution compromises.
- Frame time stability and avoiding dropped frames matter more than achieving very high FPS.
- User perception of FPS is influenced by prior experience and expectations.
- Optimizing settings and hardware is essential for a smooth VR racing experience.
What the video covers
- Many believe 72 FPS is too low for VR sim racing compared to 90 or 120 FPS or high refresh rate screens.
- The contrast principle affects perception, making 72 FPS seem worse when compared to higher hertz screens.
- Selective attention allows the brain to focus on important racing cues, reducing the impact of lower FPS on peripheral vision.
- Higher FPS like 120 requires significant compromises in resolution and picture quality due to hardware limitations.
- Frame time and avoiding dropped frames are more critical than raw FPS numbers for smooth VR experience.
- Running steady 72 FPS with good overhead provides a better balance of picture quality and smoothness.
- 120 FPS is more demanding and prone to frame drops, which negatively impacts immersion.
- Personal preference and prior beliefs about FPS influence how users perceive VR performance.
- SimRacing Arnout uses 72 FPS on various Pimax headsets in competitive VR racing with good results.
- Settings optimization and hardware capabilities (e.g., RTX 5090) are crucial for achieving stable VR frame rates.
Chapters
- 00:00Introduction to VR FPS misconceptions
- 00:51The contrast principle and perception of FPS
- 01:45Experience with 90 and 120 FPS vs 72 FPS
- 02:36Selective attention and focus in VR racing
- 03:18Impact of peripheral vision and frame skipping
- 04:03Influence of prior beliefs on FPS expectations
- 04:47Settings and performance of Pimax headsets
- 05:39Picture quality trade-offs at higher FPS
- 07:17Frame time challenges and frame drop risks
- 08:27Balancing frame time overhead and picture quality
Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown
Speaker A
Dream Air, people said, "72 FPS is a deal breaker." But you don't understand VR FPS. I've spent thousands of hours in VR and most of that was in 72 FPS.
Speaker A
Still, I didn't want to believe my own eyes, so I tried a lot of 90 and 120 FPS with the Crystal Light, and eventually I'll go back to 72 FPS. In this video, I'll explain why. First, let's talk about the contrast, and not
Speaker A
the picture contrast, but the contrast that is in your mind. You might be using a 144 or 240 hertz screen right now, and then you hear 72 FPS in VR, and it sounds unacceptable. That number is half or
Speaker A
even less than a third of what you're used to. I'm reading a book about influence, and there is this concept that Robert Cialdini explains: the contrast principle. What we experience first can change how we perceive what comes next. A 72 FPS
Speaker A
headset sounds terrible when you compare it to the direct number of 240 hertz on screen. And I think that comparison can become a shortcut in your head. You decide 72 will not be enough. But the contrast principle doesn't prove 72 FPS
Speaker A
will feel good to everyone. You have to try it. Now sure, on 120 FPS with the Crystal Light, there is a smooth feeling of a difference. There is some smoothness to it, but when you start using it for actual racing, your focus
Speaker A
starts to shift. And the reason is focus. And when I say focus, I don't mean forcing myself to stare harder at the braking point. I mean something else. My brain is learning what information to turn down. And there is a
Speaker A
name for this, selective attention. Your brain gives more attention to what matters for the task you're doing, and it can suppress information that would distract you. Think about driving to work on autopilot. One day, you suddenly notice a tree in the
Speaker A
distance or a chimney sitting at an angle or a driveway you've passed hundreds of times, and they were always there, but you just didn't pay attention.
Speaker A
Something similar happens when you start racing in VR. In the beginning, VR can be super tiring because your brain doesn't actually understand what to turn off. So, you try to process everything the first time you put on a headset. But
Speaker A
as you get used to VR racing, your brain learns what it needs. It needs that braking point, that turning reference, and a place where you can go back on the throttle. And when that happens, you start to turn off a lot of things. You
Speaker A
start to turn off the peripheral vision. On 72 FPS, that vision can be a little bit like, you know, skipping frames.
Speaker A
But once you start forgetting that, you don't notice that anymore. But there is something you will notice when running 72 FPS, that beautiful picture. The point is that I'm making with 72 FPS, I can see the difference when I look for it.
Speaker A
So, especially on the edge of the headset, when I'm racing, I'm no longer paying attention to every bit of motion around me. My attention goes to the information I need to drive, and the rest kind of fades into the background.
Speaker A
Now, there's another layer to this. What you already believe about frame rates and FPS. If you are convinced you need 120 to race well, then 72 FPS, you will be putting on a Dreamer SE for instance, and it's, and you know it's
Speaker A
going to be 72. You're convinced it's not going to be enough. You're going to drive it, you're going to use it, and you will defend your 120 FPS position.
Speaker A
And we're all different, you know? I mean, some people really like a Minecraft pixel screen with 120 or 20 FPS. Not here to judge that, but it will be like that.
Speaker A
And let's talk about the Crystal Light on 120 FPS in the settings that I need to run to make a smooth picture. So, currently on this Pimax OpenXR and with the Dreamer SE, I'm running 104, but when I use the Sboys driver, I can
Speaker A
go even higher with Steam VR. If I go with my Crystal Light and I want 120 FPS, I need to drop my supersampling and resolution to 0.6. So, that's almost half of the resolution the headset can do. And the picture drop
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you'll have when doing this is going to look something like this. One note on the settings on the graphics on the Ultimate real quick, if you put this post effects to low, that actually creates a lot of overhead.
Speaker A
And if you want to get my settings, check the link in the description. It's linked to my Pimax buyer guide. It helps you to shortcut a lot of watching video reviews and stuff and helps you decide which
Speaker A
headset is best for you. That will be in the description. This picture is what I'm getting with the SE when I kind of optimized my settings. Now, if I go to the Crystal Light and I want 120 FPS,
Speaker A
then it's going to drop this picture. But this is actually not possible on track because I cannot miss one frame because that kills the immersion. To make 120 FPS actually doable and steady is going to look more like this. Now,
Speaker A
this obviously I created this with a video editor, but this is the experience. The picture quality trade-off is so wildly insane. And please note, I am running a 5090. Now, why is 120 FPS such a burden on your
Speaker A
picture quality? Well, let's talk about it. I don't really care about FPS in this graph. I'm really more concerned about frame time and the overhead I have on the frame time. So, every simulation is not that greatly optimized because
Speaker A
you see this number fluctuate a lot. So, sure, I could get 120 FPS and somewhat of a decent picture, but once I'm in an online lobby competing with other cars, you'll see this ms time frame time spike. And the problem, first problem
Speaker A
with 120 FPS is that I have almost twice the potential of dropping a frame because I have so many.
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And the thing is with the frame time in VR, it is not allowed to ever drop one frame.
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But even then, you could always remain the frame rates. If you have a couple of frames that will exceed the frame time, it will feel weird and you will not have the benefit of this FPS. So,
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you can also think when we zoom in and we take just one frame, and I'm testing my car alone on track with 72 FPS, I have 10 ms to work with.
Speaker A
And this is the absolute limit I'll go. I will not go higher. If I see 10 or 11 and when I'm alone on track, I know I'm going to drop frames on 72 FPS. So, ideally I'm around like seven or eight
Speaker A
ms and then I know I'm going to have plenty of overhead to run that steady 72 FPS with a really beautiful picture. And this is what I think is important. Then when you go to 90 FPS, the frame time
Speaker A
might stay the same, but I mean, there's always like one guy maybe exits the lobby or one guy, I don't know, there might be some smoke on track or there's like sunset, all of a sudden you'll exceed your buffer, your overhead in
Speaker A
this particular frame time on 90 FPS. Now yeah, and you can see with 120 FPS that yeah, I need like at least like 4 ms or 5 ms of overhead on 120 FPS, so the frame time should not
Speaker A
ever exceed above like four or three ms and the picture clarity trade-offs you're going to make to get so many frames into one second, it's just with the current technology, I don't know.
Speaker A
Obviously, this is a lot more ultimate where I'm testing this with, so if you use Automobilista or iRacing, these values could be maybe a little bit better achieved, but please note, I am running a 5090 and this is super tricky
Speaker A
to set up correctly. Now sure, there are some people that are mega sensitive to these frame rates. I've got a couple of comments saying, "People, it's impossible for me." Sure, I'm not here to attack that, but this is just how I feel
Speaker A
about it. And if you don't believe me, if you go to my live streams for all the Pimax headsets, the super headsets that I've used, the Dreamer Premium, I all run them on 72 FPS. I compete in
Speaker A
split one lobbies. No, I am not an e-sport driver. I'm usually a second half the pace.
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Crystal Light or you don't own any headset, think about it like this. If you own a Crystal Light, then maybe getting an SE will not feel like an upgrade, then don't do it.
Speaker A
But if you want to upgrade your Crystal Light, then you want to buy that Premium Dream Air.
Speaker A
And if you don't own a headset yet, note that I have them both uh lying around here. I will always use the SE when I do a race. That's just me. If you want to know more about the SE, then I
Speaker A
highly recommend that vi- this video, because that's like the SE review that I made and why I think it's a super good headset, even though it's 72 FPS.
Speaker A
See there. It's a good video. 40,000 people already watched it, so you'll be missing out if you're not clicking on it.
Speaker A
Go ahead.
Topics:VR sim racing72 FPS VRPimax Dream AirCrystal Light VRframe time VRselective attentionVR racing settingsVR headset performance120 FPS VR tradeoffsSimRacing Arnout
