Total Gaming Experience: Sony PlayStation VR vs. Oculus Quest 2

This site contains affiliate links to products. We may receive a commission for purchases made through these links.

The total gaming experience is when you know what virtual reality gaming is. It’s a relatively new technology that has gotten a lot of attention recently. A lot of fun is bursting out if you don’t have one. Virtual reality gaming is a computer-generated virtual environment where the gamer believes he has been transported to another world simply by donning a VR headset. 

You may play these VR games at home if you have the necessary equipment. Otherwise, playing these games in a VR arcade is the best option. Virtual reality games have raised the bar on gaming. It’s not only a fun and exciting journey, but it also comes with other advantages.

For one, you don’t sit in front of a screen and look at it for hours in a virtual reality game. After donning a headset, you’ll feel as if you’ve entered a new world and are experiencing a realistic experience. Killing zombies in virtual reality games is a far more intense experience since you control your character with your body. 

Instead of sitting on the couch with a controller for hours on end, VR gaming allows you to be physically active while still having fun with traditional games. To fulfill an objective, you may need to walk about the room and flap your arms around, which helps you burn calories.

But, what are the things to consider before choosing the right VR partner for you? The Sony PlayStation VR and Oculus Quest 2 are the two most talk of the town today. We dissect them with their differences, similarities, best use, and decide which one’s the winner. So, let’s start.

Comparison Chart

Sony PlayStation VR
Oculus Quest 2 — Advanced All-In-One Virtual Reality Headset — 256 GB
  Specification  Sony PlayStation VR  Oculus Quest 2
  Release Date  October 13, 2016 August 30, 2021
  Customer Reviews  1,665 ratings  35,429 ratings
  Product Dimension  7.36 x 7.28 x 10.91 inches; 6.85 Pounds  16.5 x 7.7 x 5.1 inches; 1.83 Pounds
  Item Weight  6.85 pounds  1.83 pounds
  Manufacturer  Sony  Facebook Technologies, LLC
  Batteries  1 Lithium Polymer batteries required.  1 Lithium ion batteries required. (included)
  Binding  Video Game  Video Game

Sony PlayStation VR Review

Released in 2016, PlayStation VR continues to be popular among VR beginners and purists looking for the best VR headsets. Even though a PlayStation console is required to use PSVR, individuals already part of Sony’s console ecosystem may access a vast selection of action-packed titles and experimental that are only available on PlayStation VR.

Sony released a little revised version of the PlayStation VR gear following the platform’s first success. HDR video supported passthrough and has a slightly more streamlined set of wires and integrated stereo headphones. As a result, it’s still one of the greatest VR headsets available.

Despite being released during the PlayStation 4’s lifespan, the PlayStation VR headset is unmistakably closer in appearance to the PlayStation 5. PSVR feels more like putting on a huge, comfortable headband with a visor attached than it does strapping goggles to your face, sharing the pure white and matte black aesthetic of both the PS5 and its DualSense controller.

PlayStation VR attempts to fully immerse you in a video game by simultaneously creating two images and transferring them to a headset a few feet away. However, unlike competing devices that require pricey graphics cards to function, PS VR can do so with just the PlayStation 4’s built-in GPU.

It does so by tracking nine separate points of light on the headset, as well as the lights on the Move controllers or the DualShock 4, depending on which game you’re playing.

Oculus Quest 2 Review

The Quest 2 is much lighter and smaller than the original. It weighs 17.7 ounces and measuring 4.0 x 7.5 x 5.6 inches. The white smooth plastic chassis of the headset contrasts with the black plastic and foam eye mask behind it. Four position-tracking cameras are positioned along the edge of the front faceplate, which is practically naked.

A USB-C port and a 3.5mm headphone jack are located on the left side of the headset, while the power button and an indicator LED are located on the right side. On the underside of the headset, there is a volume rocker and two pinhole microphones. The eye mask easily pulls out to allow you to adjust the lens position or insert the provided separator, which lifts the headset slightly away from your face to allow you to wear it with glasses comfortably. However, glasses can be uncomfortable even with the separation if you have extremely thick frames.

The headset’s processor has been upgraded from Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 835 to the Snapdragon Xr2, based on the Snapdragon 865. This is significant in and of itself because the Quest 2’s $299 price makes it the most affordable Snapdragon 865-based device in North America. More importantly, the new processor provides a considerable performance gain compared to the original Quest. It also receives two additional gigs of RAM, bringing 6GB.

Oculus VR has announced that its new passthrough API functionality is now available in the newest Oculus SDK release for developers to test. Thanks to the technology, the headgear would beam augmented reality items, images, and more into your virtual surroundings.

The Oculus Quest 2 is a virtual reality headset that looks like a scuba mask worn on the head. Instead of a window, a cushioned hole housing a pair of goggle-like lenses sit in front of a screen and provide stereoscopic 3D visuals. Moving your head is possible in Oculus VR and seeing the motions reflected in real-time on the digital screen in front of you, as if you were gazing out and moving about in the actual world, thanks to motion sensors and accelerometers in the headset.

The Key Difference Between These Two Virtual Realities

Let’s get the technical stuff out of the way first. The Oculus Quest 2 is a standalone system, but the PlayStation is more of an extension to the PS4 with similar software and includes a Snapdragon XR2 processor and runs an Android-based OS. It requires a PS4 or PS5 to function and be linked to a console. As a result, rather than being a standalone VR device, the PlayStation is more of a PlayStation attachment. Let’s have a look at the specifications.

What you see matters when you’re entirely immersed in a virtual world; despite having an LCD panel instead of Sony’s OLED display, the Oculus Quest 2 provides a superior visual experience than the PlayStation VR. The images on the Facebook VR headset are clearer and less grainy thanks to a greater resolution per eye and a PenTile subpixel layout.

The image quality of the Oculus Quest 2 is superior to that of the PSVR. However, Sony’s VR gadget has the upper hand regarding blacks because OLEDs specialize in turning off specific pixels and giving real blacks.

The Oculus Quest 2 has a better look in movement smoothness because of its 120Hz refresh rate, whereas the PlayStation VR only supports 90Hz. The PSVR, on the other hand, has a broader field of view, a hundred degrees vs. 89 degrees for the Oculus 2. Users can modify the IPD on both headsets, although the Oculus 2 requires manual adjustment, whereas you may adjust the PSVR IPD digitally through the PS4 and PS5 settings.

Similarities Between the Two Virtual Realities

The Quest 2’s LCD panel has a resolution of 1832 x 1920 per eye, lower than the PlayStation 2, although it has the same refresh rate of 90Hz – 120Hz as the PSVR. The Quest 2 has inside-out tracking as well, but no eye tracking. Its field of view is likewise shorter because it is angled at 90 degrees.

Both virtual realities are considerable improvements over their predecessors, bringing significant immersion improvements, and in-headset tracking is available on the PSVR and the Oculus Quest 2. This means they both track body, arm, hand, and head motions using cameras and sensors built-in the headset. Neither of these methods necessitates the installation of additional cameras around a room.

Accurate tracking is critical for an enjoyable, immersive VR experience; happily, all VR headset designers have come a long way in the last several years, and strong tracking capabilities are now quite typical.

Best Use of Each Virtual Reality

The Oculus Quest 2 is much more than a gaming device, offering a wide range of leisure and productivity apps that allow you to view films and work with people in novel ways. It was engulfed by the fascinating rhythms of the Blue Man Group when viewing their virtual concert in the Oculus TV app and glanced around in astonishment as they virtually stepped on top of Mount Everest in a 360-degree YouTube VR video.

If none of the VR offerings appeal to you, you may use the headgear to play non-VR games and apps. All non-PS VR software appears on the PSVR as a large screen floating in front of your face, similar to the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift’s Virtual Desktop applications. When playing non-VR games, motion controls are disabled, but the system still detects your head movement to simulate sitting in front of a large screen rather than having one strapped to your face.

Which is the Winner?

The Oculus Quest 2 is the obvious pick when searching for a total gaming experience of VR. It is less expensive, more widely available, portable, and extremely simple. Above all, it has stunning visuals that are extremely sharp and clear. The addition of Oculus Link dramatically enlarged the previously limited amount of Quest 2 titles. And in addition to this, the Link Air, eliminated the thorny issues of cables.

The PSVR pales in contrast to the Quest 2, and finding, setting up, and using it is way too time-consuming. It’s best as an add-on to PlayStation games rather than a standalone VR device. Until Sony announces the PSVR 2, the Oculus Quest 2 will remain the current next-gen VR console.

Final Takeaway

It’s safe to argue that virtual reality should not be dismissed as a science-fiction metaphor, a simple recreational vessel, or a far-off technological sector. It’s already a useful utility, a ground-breaking user interface, and a brand-new computer platform. Please don’t spend money on a whole gaming system without even checking it out to see how powerful (or not) it is.

Product Fight’s reviews of the current best technologies, televisions, gadgets, and experiences are a wonderful place to start if you want to get a more hands-on viewpoint.

FAQs

1.) When was VR invented?

  • 1968 is the first-ever Virtual Reality created by Ivan Sutherland and Bob Sproull.

2.) Can you use VR without a PC?

  • You can use a standalone VR headset without a PC or smartphone.

3.) Does VR hurt your eyes?

  • According to studies, wearing virtual reality headsets can induce eye strain, discomfort, fatigue, and blurred vision.

4.) Can VR cause seizures?

  • VR pictures flash very quickly, which is usually too fast for persons with photosensitive epilepsy to have a seizure. The field of view, on the other hand, is wide. This suggests impacting a larger portion of the brain, resulting in a photosensitive seizure.

5.) How long should you play VR a day?

  • The prevailing assumption is that you should use your VR headset for an hour before taking a fifteen-minute rest before returning.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *