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DIY YouTuber builds cheap VR headset and makes it open-source
(www.notebookcheck.net)
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this post was submitted on 13 Oct 2025
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I am wondering about the software side. Is it just a glorified monitor for your face, or does it have some kind of internal control/OS like a Quest or other commercial headset?
It seems to only have an Arduino as processor, so presumably the former i.e. you need a PC to plug this into. It seems to have highly simplified tracking compared to something like a Quest - a single Inertial Measurement Unit. All enough for sim racing which is this guy's jam, but I wonder how well the tracking stays calibrated.
The critical thing with these is response time. If it's even slightly too high (I think 20-30ms is easily too high), some/many people get very motion sick. Getting that time down as low as needed is also not trivial.
With it only being 60 Hz on the controller itself, that's basically impossible to hit. That's 16.6 ms already. Then the processing, sending to the PC, and the PC reacting has a budget of just a few ms? Yea, not happening.
I'm assuming he's really not sensitive to this. As it's open source now the people who are sensitive can improve it. That's the beauty of open source after all.
Normal video games can make me motion sick so I can only imagine how bad this might be! Maybe in the future it'll get better!
I bet I could use it. I can play the VirtualBoy in a moving car. If there's any kind of way to tie it into MechWarrior, I want to build one.
I’m wondering if I wanted to fly a jet, would I need another sensor for 3 dimensional tracking
Looks like it has an inertial sensor to control the view, here's there relevant bit from the article:
It relies on the Relativity VR driver so theoretically similar software support, namely https://github.com/relativty/Relativty#14-software-setup but mind you beside being 5 years old this is 3DoF, no controller or hand tracking, whereas the Quest is 6DoF, namely you can move around, not just turn your head.