The HTC Vive is far ahead of its competitors that it’s hard to explain the experience to others who haven’t tried it yet. It’s kinda like explaining a video game or movie to someone who hasn’t watch any film before.
Virtual reality is still growing, and because it’s still new, there is the problem of low variety of games. But this issue will be resolved as time goes by and bigger and better titles become available.
The HTC Vive requires a pretty high end gaming computer to run. A PC with an Intel Core i5-4590K and either a Nvidia GTX 970 or AMD R9 390 GPU are the bare minimum in terms of specs. But if you’re a PC gamer chances are that you’ll have a beast of a PC and this would be an accessory. Kind of like a getting a new controller, mouse or keyboard only a lot more premium.
The HTC Vive destroys it’s competition like the Playstation VR and the Oculus Rift in terms of build quality of the headset, the controllers, and the sensors. The HTC Vive comes with quality foam around the lenses to provide comfort compared to plastic that the Rift has. The controllers were made to interact with the games to provide a more real experience. There are two sensors that come with the HTC Vive that have to be mounted/clipped high above the player for the best experience. The Rift and Playstation VR both come with one which means out of the box you can’t play stand up games, which takes away from the overall experience.
Other competitors like Samsung Gear VR or Google Cardboard are all about making VR available to budget people who have never experienced VR before. Whereas the HTC Vive is geared toward people who have experienced it and want to enjoy the best of the best.
Pros:
- Best VR experience
- Intuitive controls
- Software partnership with Valve
Cons:
- Still a bit pricey… about $699.99 (CA) to be exact
- Requires a high-end GPU
- Less comfortable than the Rift