New to the forums? Click here to read the "How To" Guide.
Developer? Click here to go to the Developer Forums.
Developer? Click here to go to the Developer Forums.
Hands-On with the VirZoom VR Exercise Bike
Valuable Player
Or should I say, "Hands and Feet On"? Pre-ordered VirZooms just started going out near the end of last month, and it looks like I'm lucky enough to be one of the first people to get my hands on the final, consumer-ready product! (the VirZoom guys have been demoing slightly different, prototype models at pretty much every games / tech convention this year, and they've had some in the homes of alpha testers. Still! I feel like I'm among the first here.) Before I begin, I'd like to link to this thread @Dinoroger made back in February: https://forums.oculus.com/community/discussion/29594/vr-exercise-bike-virzoom/p1 I'll probably be re-hashing a lot of the same information covered there.
__________________________________________
In case you haven't heard of it before, VirZoom is essentially two things: the exercise-bike peripheral itself, and the software content / account features that accompany it.
The physical bike is based off one of those "xbike" models (that normally cost ~$100-150 + shipping) but it's been specially modified with wider bars at the base (so you can do some serious sideways leaning and not flip the bike over) game controller handles (each has four face buttons and a trigger, plus some sort of heart-rate sensors on the grip) sensors to read which direction and how fast you're pedaling, and also the current (manual) tension setting, and a tiny blue-tooth usb dongle to relay that info to your computer.
You should have seen the box it came in, you could seriously fit an entire person in there. Well, someone shorter than me, at least. The bike's rated as comfortable for people up to 6'2" (but I'm 6'5" and haven't had any issues!) and safe for people up to 260lbs, and feels VERY sturdy and stable all over. Weighs about 40lbs, and can be folded to minimize storage space, although for now I'm just leaving it out. The buttons on the handles look a little cheap and have a little wobble to them, but have a good size and shape to them (no complaints when sliding my thumb from one to another) and make a satisfying click when pressed. The triggers feel... chewy? Yeah, chewy. They seem responsive enough so I don't have any complaints.
The software, aptly titled VirZoom Arcade, consists of a collection of mini-games specially designed for use with the bike. Right now there are only about 5 or 6 main games, although each one has different game modes available and the developers plan to add additional games and game modes to the arcade, free of charge, over the lifetime of the product. Interestingly, some of the games even feature online multiplayer; Driving a virtual race-car by pedaling and leaning on an exercise bike is already quite the novelty, but doing it in a competitive race against some other person desperately pedaling to try and beat you? That's an awesome concept.
The games as a whole are not the most graphically advanced (Close-by scenery / foreground objects and character models and such are actually fine enough, it's mostly just the backgrounds / map geometry that look several-generations dated), but I didn't find that to detract much from the experience, and each one is pretty simplistic in terms of gameplay, but that's by design; They each provide a clear, easy-to-understand objective to motivate you to keep pedaling, and because your daily play-time is going to be inherently limited by your physical stamina and you can mix things up by playing a different game each day or a mix of very short sessions of each game in one sitting, you aren't liable to get too bored with any one, and of course once new games are added in that will be even more variety to hold your attention. At any rate, it's FAR better motivation than just sticking a TV in front of your bike or having some guy yelling encouragement over your shoulder.
So far I've only tried the tutorial and one game-mode each of "Stampede" and "Go Fast Car", but I'll be sure to give my impressions of the other games and game modes as I try them out.
First I did Stampede, in which you play a(n invisible) cowboy, riding through the streets of an infinitely-long western town and lassoing horse-thieves before they could get away. The lassoing action involves a timing element: looking (somewhere near) a target and holding down the right trigger sends an icon spinning around a circle, you release the trigger when it hits the top 1/3rd or 1/4th of the circle to successfully lasso them (which sounds easier than it is, especially once you start to tire out!). Leaning left and right moves your horse sideways so you can position yourself behind bandits, grab items, or avoid... let's just say "hazards"... and there were power-ups that could be grabbed to let me shoot small tornadoes ahead as an alternate means to knock the bandits off their horses. Between that and the lasso lighting on fire when pulling off consecutive successful lasso attempts, I think I may have been some kind of super-hero sheriff the whole time.
Every handful of waves, there'd be a bonus round where I had to try and stay behind a swerving, unmanned carriage as it dropped diamonds behind it. I made it twenty waves into Stampede before climbing off the bike, butt-and-leg-muscles aching and body already drenched in sweat. No fogging of the Rift lenses, I'm happy to say!
After grabbing some water, I moved on to Go Fast Car, which is Formula 1 racing (where the drivers all just happen to be happy dogs... labradors, I think). Pretty straightforward in the mode i tried, which was a race against the AI on a simple 0 shaped track. Stay in control on the turns, keep your pedaling speed up, and when possible grab power-ups for a speed boost. Not the most exciting racing game I've played, but it kept me pedaling hard long after I wanted to stop, so mission accomplished there. This is one of the modes that supports online play, by the way. After five laps, my legs were rubber (and one was shaking a bit), my butt was sore, and I was so ready to shower the sweat off. Still no lens fogging, though! Seriously, I don't think it's even possible to fog the Rift lenses through heat and sweat alone, I've only had them fog up ONCE since I got my Rift and I think it was because I started Rifting too soon after a shower..
So what else should I mention here? Well, VirZoom is going to support Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, AND PSVR, but currently the VirZoom Arcade software is only available through Steam but they're working to get it onto Oculus Home as we speak. VirZoom Arcade also has integrated Pandora radio support, and 'Strava' (whatever that is?)
Oh, there is (or is going to be) a gamepad emulator to use the bike with non-virzoom games. I'm definitely looking forward to pedaling my way across Skyrim or the wastelands of Fallout, or using it in some external racing game... pretty much anything where I can use pedaling speed in place of variable joystick input and use it for forward movement, and do the rest of my controls on eight face buttons and two triggers... or hold a gamepad while on the bike.
And the developers are really cool people. They regularly respond to questions in their forums, are very open to suggestions and community feedback, and reply to support emails very promptly. They seem to be super enthusiastic about launching the VirZoom product and service and I just really hope they do well, given the risk involved when developing for such a niche market.
One last thing for now, before I leave the thread open to questions and comments: I know, $400 might sound like a lot for a peripheral (then again, some hotas setups, racewheels, and even gaming chairs can be well over $400) or a piece of exercise equipment but in VirZoom's defense, it's both a peripheral AND a full-fledged piece of exercise equipment, and that price is including the bike, shipping (which is worth like $50 alone, on a 40lb package the size of a small coffin) AND a life-time membership plan to advanced account/software/workout-planning features...
So if you're looking for a unique peripheral-based VR experience AND a way to motivate yourself to get or stay fit, I'd say the $400 is well worth it. (But to be fair, I got in on a very early promotional offer and only paid $250 for mine.
)
__________________________________________
In case you haven't heard of it before, VirZoom is essentially two things: the exercise-bike peripheral itself, and the software content / account features that accompany it.
The physical bike is based off one of those "xbike" models (that normally cost ~$100-150 + shipping) but it's been specially modified with wider bars at the base (so you can do some serious sideways leaning and not flip the bike over) game controller handles (each has four face buttons and a trigger, plus some sort of heart-rate sensors on the grip) sensors to read which direction and how fast you're pedaling, and also the current (manual) tension setting, and a tiny blue-tooth usb dongle to relay that info to your computer.
You should have seen the box it came in, you could seriously fit an entire person in there. Well, someone shorter than me, at least. The bike's rated as comfortable for people up to 6'2" (but I'm 6'5" and haven't had any issues!) and safe for people up to 260lbs, and feels VERY sturdy and stable all over. Weighs about 40lbs, and can be folded to minimize storage space, although for now I'm just leaving it out. The buttons on the handles look a little cheap and have a little wobble to them, but have a good size and shape to them (no complaints when sliding my thumb from one to another) and make a satisfying click when pressed. The triggers feel... chewy? Yeah, chewy. They seem responsive enough so I don't have any complaints.
The software, aptly titled VirZoom Arcade, consists of a collection of mini-games specially designed for use with the bike. Right now there are only about 5 or 6 main games, although each one has different game modes available and the developers plan to add additional games and game modes to the arcade, free of charge, over the lifetime of the product. Interestingly, some of the games even feature online multiplayer; Driving a virtual race-car by pedaling and leaning on an exercise bike is already quite the novelty, but doing it in a competitive race against some other person desperately pedaling to try and beat you? That's an awesome concept.
The games as a whole are not the most graphically advanced (Close-by scenery / foreground objects and character models and such are actually fine enough, it's mostly just the backgrounds / map geometry that look several-generations dated), but I didn't find that to detract much from the experience, and each one is pretty simplistic in terms of gameplay, but that's by design; They each provide a clear, easy-to-understand objective to motivate you to keep pedaling, and because your daily play-time is going to be inherently limited by your physical stamina and you can mix things up by playing a different game each day or a mix of very short sessions of each game in one sitting, you aren't liable to get too bored with any one, and of course once new games are added in that will be even more variety to hold your attention. At any rate, it's FAR better motivation than just sticking a TV in front of your bike or having some guy yelling encouragement over your shoulder.
So far I've only tried the tutorial and one game-mode each of "Stampede" and "Go Fast Car", but I'll be sure to give my impressions of the other games and game modes as I try them out.
First I did Stampede, in which you play a(n invisible) cowboy, riding through the streets of an infinitely-long western town and lassoing horse-thieves before they could get away. The lassoing action involves a timing element: looking (somewhere near) a target and holding down the right trigger sends an icon spinning around a circle, you release the trigger when it hits the top 1/3rd or 1/4th of the circle to successfully lasso them (which sounds easier than it is, especially once you start to tire out!). Leaning left and right moves your horse sideways so you can position yourself behind bandits, grab items, or avoid... let's just say "hazards"... and there were power-ups that could be grabbed to let me shoot small tornadoes ahead as an alternate means to knock the bandits off their horses. Between that and the lasso lighting on fire when pulling off consecutive successful lasso attempts, I think I may have been some kind of super-hero sheriff the whole time.
Every handful of waves, there'd be a bonus round where I had to try and stay behind a swerving, unmanned carriage as it dropped diamonds behind it. I made it twenty waves into Stampede before climbing off the bike, butt-and-leg-muscles aching and body already drenched in sweat. No fogging of the Rift lenses, I'm happy to say!After grabbing some water, I moved on to Go Fast Car, which is Formula 1 racing (where the drivers all just happen to be happy dogs... labradors, I think). Pretty straightforward in the mode i tried, which was a race against the AI on a simple 0 shaped track. Stay in control on the turns, keep your pedaling speed up, and when possible grab power-ups for a speed boost. Not the most exciting racing game I've played, but it kept me pedaling hard long after I wanted to stop, so mission accomplished there. This is one of the modes that supports online play, by the way. After five laps, my legs were rubber (and one was shaking a bit), my butt was sore, and I was so ready to shower the sweat off. Still no lens fogging, though! Seriously, I don't think it's even possible to fog the Rift lenses through heat and sweat alone, I've only had them fog up ONCE since I got my Rift and I think it was because I started Rifting too soon after a shower..
So what else should I mention here? Well, VirZoom is going to support Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, AND PSVR, but currently the VirZoom Arcade software is only available through Steam but they're working to get it onto Oculus Home as we speak. VirZoom Arcade also has integrated Pandora radio support, and 'Strava' (whatever that is?)
Oh, there is (or is going to be) a gamepad emulator to use the bike with non-virzoom games. I'm definitely looking forward to pedaling my way across Skyrim or the wastelands of Fallout, or using it in some external racing game... pretty much anything where I can use pedaling speed in place of variable joystick input and use it for forward movement, and do the rest of my controls on eight face buttons and two triggers... or hold a gamepad while on the bike.
And the developers are really cool people. They regularly respond to questions in their forums, are very open to suggestions and community feedback, and reply to support emails very promptly. They seem to be super enthusiastic about launching the VirZoom product and service and I just really hope they do well, given the risk involved when developing for such a niche market.
One last thing for now, before I leave the thread open to questions and comments: I know, $400 might sound like a lot for a peripheral (then again, some hotas setups, racewheels, and even gaming chairs can be well over $400) or a piece of exercise equipment but in VirZoom's defense, it's both a peripheral AND a full-fledged piece of exercise equipment, and that price is including the bike, shipping (which is worth like $50 alone, on a 40lb package the size of a small coffin) AND a life-time membership plan to advanced account/software/workout-planning features...
So if you're looking for a unique peripheral-based VR experience AND a way to motivate yourself to get or stay fit, I'd say the $400 is well worth it. (But to be fair, I got in on a very early promotional offer and only paid $250 for mine.
)It's hard being the voice of reason when you're surrounded by unreasonable people.
Tagged:
5
Comments
You can find much clearer photos on the official VirZoom website or any of their social media pages, but hey, I can't talk about my hot new toy without taking some pictures of it myself, right?
Nice write up CrashFu but those pictures make my eyes bleed.
System Specs: ASUS NVIDIA RTX 3090 TUF GAMING OC 24GB , i9 9900K CPU, 16 GB DDR 4 RAM, Win 10 64 Bit OS.
I believe they do have some bike or motorbike themed games in the works, and yeah it would definitely feel more natural to steer a bike by leaning than to steer a car by leaning.. but I think the whole idea was to do what was least expected, just to make people go "What? That's crazy".
The tension level ranges from 1 to 8, where 1 gives pretty much no resistance at all, and 8? ... pedaling for 20 seconds on level 8 lights my knees on fire, lol. But then, I'm really out of shape, and 20 minutes on level 3 is enough to rubberize my legs.
SSDs: Intel 660p M.2 2TB, Samsung 860 Evo 1TB, 850 Evo 1TB, 840 Evo 1TB | Startech 4 controller PCIe USB 3.0
@CrashFu - Are you playing with a fan pointing at you? No fogging is great! Was much sweat pooling inside the Rift? Or did the handy nose gap (with fan?) cure that?
And yeah, you'll definitely want to stick a fan in front of you. I do that most of the time I'm Riftin' anyways, but it's practically mandatory when working out. Plus, it makes the games more fun when you can feel the wind in your face. I don't think that actually has much to do with the Rift being fog-resistant, though, I think the lenses are just made that way?
Whew, I got in a much longer workout today, trying out the other three (currently available) game modes! As a side note, I came very close to wrapping the Rift's cable around a pedal while playing, but noticed before any damage could occur. Really illustrates the importance of keeping your cables out of the way before playing, and in this case draped over something nearby.. Edit: Using the cable clip built onto the bike would probably help, as Eric from VirZoom points out below.
Lord of Tanks - This one is (for the most part) less exercise and more game than most of the other modes, and the game-feel is very satisfying. You are, of course, piloting a tank across a sprawling, mountainous battlefield and engaging in a free-for-all death-match with other tanks. AI tanks only have 1 HP, but this game features drop-in-drop-out multiplayer; another VirZoom user could just pop in to the game world at any time, and player tanks have 3 HP and are worth more points.
The way the tank crawls over dips and hills looks very smooth and natural, aside from the occasional bit of ground-clipping, or comically ramping off a destroyed tank wreckage. Like most VirZoom games, you lean to turn and pedal to move (forwards or backwards in this instance), while headlook and one of the triggers fires your cannon. Ammo is infinite but you need a couple seconds between shots. The projectiles arc and I got the impression they were automatically adjusting vertical trajectory for distance, but you DO have to lead moving targets horizontally. Nailing a dead-on shot from super far away feels REALLY good.
This is one of the few games where you can find yourself just sitting still at times, although a sitting tank is an easy target in any PvP situation. The real workout from LoT will come when you go cruising across the battlefield to intercept / find line-of-sight to far-off targets, and when travelling up-hill. VirZoom can not automatically change its own tension, so it just requires you to pedal faster uphill if you want to maintain speed or keep moving at all. To my delight, I was even able to climb the most sheer cliff-space I could find IF I pedaled like an absolute mad-man.
My only complaint is that none of the very scenic terrain obstacles (wrecked buildings, walls, guard towers, etc.) seemed to be destructible, It would be great if I could blow them up to get them out of my way, or better yet just plow the tank right through 'em. Sadly, it's either go over or go around.
Pegaso - one of the most talked-about VirZoom games for sure, I'm not sure what to say about Pegaso except that it manages to provide a steady workout and a very serene, relaxing experience at the same time. Terrain texture quality aside, it was very scenic, and the random woodland creatures wandering about gave some life to the world. Quite a selection of game modes for this, from running through checkpoints (easy when you can 'cheat' by spreading your wings and skipping whole sections of the trail... but I think that's the whole point) to trying to stay mid-air as long as possible by grabbing items, to a relaxed collect-a-thon.. most if not all of these modes support the drop-in-drop-out multiplayer, as I understand it.
River Run - Well, ON TOP of a combat chopper is the last place I expected to be sitting while pedal-powering it, but strangely enough this vantage point works. This is perhaps the most arcade-like of any existing VirZoom game so far, as you fly the chopper along a river while collecting fuel barrels and shooting at an endless number of sentry turrets. There are plenty of hills to swoop around and bridges to fly over or under, and the necessity to keep your rate of pedaling up to stay airborn makes for a steady work-out. Actually aiming the rockets while pedaling away like that is also quite the challenge, although at the cost of coins earned BY playing, you opt for target-locking homing missiles instead of the default dumb-fire ones.
I'll have more to say once I try out more of the individual game modes, or when new game types become available. As I understand it, an early preview of one new mode is due out in the next week or so.
I'll make sure to use the clip during tomorrow's workout session. Thanks, Eric!
Longevity is going to come in the form of new games added to the collection over its lifetime, and having leaderboards and live multiplayer to compete in.
And I'm not sure what nationality has to do with anything? Don't people outside the U.S. like to exercise?
You didn't mention regular bikes on trainers, but we tried that too, and found they were too unstable and noisy to be used with VR games. We believe the evolution of our bike and games to the best VR exercise and locomotion experience you can have, at a price not much more than a good trainer by itself. Hope you get to try it at a show or store sometime!
You dont ship to europe?
Coincidentally, I've heard people say the exact same things about Virtual Reality in general (traditional equipment is cheaper, you'll get bored of it soon, nobody will develop for it, etc.); Here's hoping the pessimism proves incorrect in both cases!
I also highly doubt there is much "money spinning" here. Developing something like this is expensive, and as you say the take-up will be small, so the cost will be a bit high (just like for VR games).