More comments from the boards- thanks for all who commented
http://www.simhq.com/simhq3/sims/boards ... 7;t=003237
and from UBI Pacific fighter boards
Casper139971
I've tried all of the free softwares I could find, and after rigging a cap with an LED, I find freelook works the best for me. That being said, I don't use it. It starts out just fine, but after a few looks around, The software (as all the others do as well) lose the center. I find myself more concerned with where I'm looking than flying and recentering requires 2 keypresses plus centering the onscreen view. Example, hit key to disable freelook, reset onscreen view to center then reenable freelook. My buddy has a track IR with the 6dof upgrade. It does work much better as far as tracking and overall setup. ex. sensitivity, etc. It also needs recentering as well, but it is less frequent and is done with 1 key press. I'll just stick with the hat switch. I'd get a track IR if they were less expensive. Myself, I'd rather have PC hardware to make my game look better and run smoother. My opinion. BTW, to be honest, I've only spent about 15 minutes with the track IR myself.
Waldo.Pepper
I liked cam2pan the best. I even did some testing for the developer. He was gracious enough to provide me a key so that I could play around with it at will.
That being said I wanted to try trackIR and found a cheap one on ebay $50
Worth every penny. It is much smoother, and works flawlessly. I cannot imagine playing without it.
TgD Thunderbolt56
I went from using hatswitch to TIRv1 and wasn't overly impressed. I upgraded to TIR 3 Pro and WOW!
I won't get on my soapbox, but TIR is, for me, one of the best investments to my sim rig that I've ever made (and I've been flying flight sims for over 10 years on just about every type of rig possible). Compare the cost of TIR to the cost of a new VC and it's not only initially cheaper but can be amortized over the course of many machines. It's not nearly as susceptible to obsolescence as most any other piece of hardware.
sensaispcc55
Posted Wed June 15 2005 07:20 Wed June 15 2005 07:20
Hello,
I should not say this because it does not change anything but "TrackIR" rules. I have mine for one month and I do not think I could go back to before it. It is worth the 150$, if you can buy one and use it. It gives you the feeling of being into a real plane. You can see every point of the sky and not only some qudrant and not others.
GoToAway
Posted Wed June 15 2005 07:27 Wed June 15 2005 07:27
TrackIR is really the single best investment I've made for flight sims since a HOTAS setup. I simply cannot imagine playing without it.
In fact, when I play other games, I find myself trying to use my head to control my view. I was doing this all of the time when I was playing Morrowind a few months ago. I'd love to see TIR support implemented into anything played from a first person perspective... Because I sure as hell feel like I have tunnel vision whenever I can't use it.
Fliegeroffizier
Posted Wed June 15 2005 10:02 Wed June 15 2005 10:02
I used to use Newview and thought that was excellent...But, TIR is the absolute Best! One simply moves ones head very slightly to be able to "look around" just like real life..I wouldn't fly without it. Best investment for a flight sim. Well...TIR and ForceFeedback in my opinion complete the immersion.
TIR2(and I'm told also TIR3, of course)has excellent centering feature. As long as one does not move ones chair or posture, etc, it will pick up on the tracking dot; you can even get up and walk away, come back, and given that you return to your normal set sitting position and chair has not been moved somehow, you'll be back in business. IF something 'unlocks' the cenetering, it is VERY simple to simply hit the re-center key..takes no more effort or thought than hitting any other single key function.
Also, using TIR frees up your POV hat for other functions...I use the four programmable points on my POVhat(actually I have two povhats) for rudder and elevator trim, so I can constantly adjust those with my thumb, again without having to give it much thought....and constant Trim adjustment with 4.0 is Essential.
JRJacobs
one MAJOR problem with TIR - after a couple of weeks - if you ever find yourself trying to fly without it, you'd rather pull teeth - it is THAT GOOD and THAT addictive, i could give up my throttle quad, i could give up my fighter stick, i could give up mu rudder pedals - i could NOT give up TIR
Corsair9
Once you start flying with TrackIR 3, you won't do it any other way, period.
It *does* take awhile to get the feel of it, but once you "get it" it's amazing how you adjust to the movements. It's second nature to track a target in the air or on the ground, or to scan the sky around you - all without flipping buttons on your stick.
It's THE latest innovation in flight simulation.