Pimax 8kX: One Year Of Simracing - My Views & Comfort Mods (I Have Become NO VR NO BUY.. Almost)

What do I think about VR after about a year of using it? I love it more thanks to some software and hardware updates! I almost became the 'No Vr No Buy' guy.. Check 'Head Strap Physics' video as well: • VR "Head Physics", The... Original "review" video: • SimRacing in VR: HP Re... POVVR.SE were nice people who sold me the strap and some fresh face foams:
povvr.se/

[@salmiakki5638]

Petition to make "Hi everybody, sweaty man here, it's 31° outside now so yeah, you put on a VR headset to make a video " the staple intro to every video on this channel from now onward

[@mattsinclair4722]

I mounted my Pimax into an old motorbike helmet, drilled extra air holes in the top and added a wind simulator above. IEMs plug into the pimax 3.5mm jack. No sweat.

[@1337Hans]

nice, I thought about doing exactly the same, with full size headphones also mounted on it

[@mike_33gt]

Can you share a video / tutorial?

[@willdarling1]

hz agreement 60 >>>>> 90 >> 120 > 144 Maybe a young e-sporter can tell a difference above 144, but for me a solid 144 is the most I'll ever want

[@jahshjahsh2002]

Before I continue the video, I want to give credit and love, to when the person is so good but at the same time he's humble and friendly. This is so European (despite other things that have to do with this topic but that do't have to do with Niels, and that I won't mention now). Now back to topic, I love your vibes, keep up the good work!

[@NielsHeusinkveld]

aww nice thanks, he replies one year later..

[@Spinelli__]

I just got a Pimax headset and then this video comes out. What a coincidence. Another coincidence? My triple monitors are identical to yours - Dell S2716DG. I use them with Nvidia 3D Vision though - it's incredible! ISI engine-based games, including AMS1, work basically perfect with NV3D (you just need to make one or 2 quick changes in Nvidia Inspector). Nothing beats 3D / stereoscopic gaming, not bigger monitors, nor higher resolutions, nor better HDR, nor curvier screens, nor better game graphics, nothing. I'm glad people are finally realizing how incredible stereoscopic vision is thanks to VR headsets.

[@petterikotovaara7755]

As you mention about 90hz on Pimax 8kx.. Get ready Pimax 8K X working with Nvidia upgrading refresh rate to 120Hz in Native Mode with new Beta Firmware, article write by 30th june It is indeed awesome for simracers especially with the FOV! Glad u enjoy it with the mod

[@NielsHeusinkveld]

Oh, but also on 20xx graphics cards or only on 3000 series?

[@petterikotovaara7755]

@@NielsHeusinkveld I think so yeah, but 120hz requires a lot of power from GPU

[@mike_33gt]

Have you tried it with 4090? Was set up really difficult? Is there any website with clean instruction how to make it work flawlessly?

[@TRX25EX]

@@mike_33gt I have 4090 and it works fine with 120hz beta version, however it takes much more power than that extra 30fps actually sound like..... You get into some CPU bottleneck even though I have 5800X running at 5.05ghz, also GPU takes alot of power, was only useful for me in F1 2022 as I can max out the settings and still get 120fps, other games kept it at 90fps.....

[@seb-kun]

Nice to see you left pancake racing world and be in 3D racing ;)

[@getsideways7257]

Left the potential of having a delightfully realistic and dazzling HDR picture for the sake of wearing a sweaty bucket gimmicky kids toy (when you can't feel the g-forces anyway). Such progress!

[@PALbub]

I came here for the strap-on and stayed for the strap-on

[@JoostH.]

Strap-on store 😂

[@BenFilley]

came for the review, stayed and liked for the strap-on insertion.

[@Brawlii]

Heusinkveld VR set confirmed?

[@discodan2265]

I'm more a no vr will cry as it pains me severely when devs don't include it on sim titles.

[@Spinelli__]

Niels, are you aware of the trade-in program for the Pimax 12K? You send your Pimax headset back and Pimax gives you the full amount you paid for off the 12K. If you trade in a 5K Super, then you get back $900 USD even if you only payed $550 or $600 for it. Have you seen the specs for the Pimax Crystal supposedly coming out next month? It's specs "on paper" obliterate the Varjo Aero. While the 12K's specs are insane.

[@NielsHeusinkveld]

I heard something like this but don't understand it. I have no clue why they would do something like this, the 8kx being 1 or 2 years old by the time the 12k launches. And the r&d and item cost of a 12kx will be significant, why take back 18 month old sweaty headsets? I don't understand the economics of this.

[@Spinelli__]

@@NielsHeusinkveld Haha, I know, right? Maybe they have some way to somehow gain from the old headsets? Or maybe they've over-priced the new headsets so that in the end it benefits them? What I mean is, let's say the original price was slated to be $1500 (completely made-up), instead of charging that, they charge $2400 then have the trade-in program. This way, after the trade in program, they're still getting around the amount they were going to originally charge + they get old headsets back they can probably use or sell (or use/sell parts from) + all the sales from customers paying the full price without taking advantage of the trade-in. Just speculating.

[@-Elaphe-]

I'm considering a Pimax 5k Super (currently using a Rift S). I know the visual clarity will be worse, but it will be much easier to keep the 120 fps. A question: is it really impossible to use headphones with the stock configuration? I would like to keep on using my Sennheiser HD 25 Light with this headset. Can you provide a direct link to purchase the strap-on? How do you adjust it for different head sizes?

[@scottdeakin7789]

Hey Niels, any chance you could share the config files you use when running in VR? I'm not very au-fait with AMS1 and I get some high frame time spikes when going over kerbs that I'd love to be able to resolve and give this sim move attention

[@scottdeakin7789]

Ignore me. I remembered your old vid and rewatched where you go through some specific settings on interest and found I had totally missed the FFB rate which seems to do the trick! Cheers!

[@NielsHeusinkveld]

@@scottdeakin7789 well spotted :D

[@Willy78wilfred]

I really like the pixax for it's FOV, but I just saw the new inside out tracking of the reverb g2 v2. Does the Pimax have something like that too. So you can do some sim racing (in AMS2) without the lighthouses? I understood that lighthouses need calibration everytime you want to start the Pimax.

[@NielsHeusinkveld]

Without lighthouses, you can only track rotation (pitch/yaw/roll) and not movement, which is ... maybe ok for simracing, if you keep your head still. It drifts a little so you may need to re-center every 5 minutes or so. There is no calibration process for the lighthouses, I turn them on, put my Pimax somewhere where they can see it, and after 10 seconds they're good. Of course center the view the first time I sit down, but then its mostly good for the duration of the stint.

[@Willy78wilfred]

@@NielsHeusinkveld Thanks Niels for your answer. Maybe this is a topic for all the sim racers looking into VR. I don't see any guide on YT that explains the difference between lighthouses and eye or inside out tracking.

[@reptilexcq2]

I can't wait to get rid of my Pimax 8KX and replace it with 12K QLED. 8KX is just not that comfortable man. Not only that, the IPD adjustment is fucked....it is the SINGLE most screwed up thing that a company can do to the user experience. It's like buying a Mercedes but you're only allow to drive at 50mph maximum...wtf? That's how screwed up the Pimax 8KX IPD is. And that's why I am looking forward to the 12K QLED with the automatic IPD adjustment. Also, I agreed that 8KX is not very comfortable. It's got weight and it is horrible at distributing weight. It'll be nice if they make it lighter with the NEW headset. There's a lot trust issue with Pimax and that's why it is important to hear from those who tried out the demos headset before buying it.

[@pimaxsupport6297]

Hi, thank you very much for your support of Pimax and we will send your comments back to our product development team. If you encounter some technical problems with the product and need help you can also contact our technical support team for assistance, thank you again!

[@reptilexcq2]

@@pimaxsupport6297 Sounds good. Looking forward to 12K and improvements of all the above that I mentioned.

[@discodan2265]

I just got a G2 fov modded gasket and it is much better than the original. Currently only playing rsfrbr & ams1 as they have the best vr performance and best feel! 👌 Still my 3090 struggles with 90fps/ Hz with some titles. Never tried a pimax tho!. So how are the eyes after long periods of binging Niels?

[@NielsHeusinkveld]

It takes literally 0 seconds to adjust to 'real life' after taking them off. It takes 1 second when I first put on the headset to adjust to it. But others might feel different.

[@discodan2265]

@@NielsHeusinkveld yeah I guess it's just my eyes seeing as I work under 30x magnification for up to 6 hrs a day plus staring at a naked flame whilst soldering jewellery then doing 4hrs sim racing in vr after.... 🥲 my optometrist told me my eyeballs are super stressed and hard to the touch. That and I ain't no spring chicken either.

[@mike_33gt]

Have you tried it with 4090? Was set up really difficult? Is there any website with clean instruction how to make it work flawlessly?

[@dinxsy8069]

I'd love to try this headset, i use a quest 2 but the visuals aren't to clever when it comes to clarity and colours.

[@mattspeed]

Quest 2 has decent clarity which ripped by default bitrate. Try to increase it with oculus debug tool. I have increased it to around 400 and it was "wow"

[@ji3200]

Is there tax for u.s?

[@user-du8yt9gv1m]

Hi! Do you think a 3070ti laptop can handle Pimax Crystal?

[@crashtestdummy87]

06:58 👀

[@NielsHeusinkveld]

You go to new places once you're a VR person..

[@crashtestdummy87]

@@NielsHeusinkveld are you a west-Vlaming? Ur accent sounds like it

[@NielsHeusinkveld]

@@crashtestdummy87 Not at all, I'm a 'relatively accent free' Dutch native speaker. Although I do try to make fun of some dialects at times..

[@rkan2]

I'll probably want VR when it can do 2x1440p@165Hz minimum.. I don't really care for the resolution but pls no pixel grid and plz at least 144Hz.

[@Spinelli__]

Then get the Pimax 5K Super. I just got it. It has options for 90, 120, 144, 160, and 180 Hz. It's on sale for around $550 USD right now but you can later trade it in back to Pimax and get $900 USD off the Pimax 12K up to 1 year after the 12K comes out. All other Pimax headsets give you back what you payed for (which is already an incredible deal itself) - the 5KS is the only model giving you back even more.

[@rkan2]

@@Spinelli__ The point I was making was more like that I don't have a problem running 1440p instead of 4k on some 4k or better panels (no pixel grid) . But the 4k panels need to be able to do said 144Hz+. I think the Pimax 8k cannot do more than 90Hz even if you drop the resolution. 8KX seems to go to 120Hz so we are close!

[@Spinelli__]

@@rkan2 You can't just go by resolution to judge screen-door effect (ie. pixel grid). You can have wide or "thick" gaps in-between pixels regardless of resolution. So there may be some 1440p panels that are good enough for you (with the Pi 5KS being the only one that meets your minimum refresh rate requirment). You can have a panel that's literally 10 pixels by 10 pixels. If the gap in-between pixels is tiny, then you will have 0 screen-door effect.

[@rkan2]

@@Spinelli__ Yes, I recognize this as it is the same with projectors. Nevertheless, the pixel grids still usually get much less noticeable when you quadruple the resolution. Usually the grids the get smaller with resolution. But yeah, some 1440p display could be my choice.. Might need to go try out the Pimax 5K, even :P

[@Spinelli__]

@@rkan2 You're right, they def tend to as the res goers up, for sure. If I had more experience with VR headsets, I would try to assist you with whether the 5KS has low enough screen door effect to satisfy your requirements but it's hard for me to compare because my time in 3 other headsets (all non-Pimax) is fairly limited so I can't say if the 5KS has a bit more screen door than x headset or a bit less than y headset, sorry. All I can say is that if you do try a Pimax, make sure you properly adjust the IPD. It's a bit more involving than other headsets but, once done right, it'll bring the clarity, the depth, the comfort and naturalness, etc. to another level. Make sure you follow these steps: kzbin.info/www/bejne/g6i9qKl3pM6SmK8

[@mmarkotan]

Hi Niels, thank you for another interesting video. Do you maybe have a solution to switching between AMS VR plug in and a desktop version?

[@NielsHeusinkveld]

It recently stopped working here. I rename the CrewChief DLL file or move it somewhere else, to run in 2D mode

[@TheRealPots]

what headphones do u use btw?!

[@NielsHeusinkveld]

Sennheiser HD598

[@vrracer479]

Have you tried the valve index?

[@NielsHeusinkveld]

Very briefly. Liked it better than the Reverb G2 because it had, for me, a bigger sweetspot, and a slightly bigger FOV, but still narrow compared to the Pimax

[@vrracer479]

@@NielsHeusinkveld for me the index is not the best really at anything but from an overall standpoint I think it still comes out on top. But saying that I confess I have not tried the Pimax.

[@NielsHeusinkveld]

@@vrracer479 The Index was my first .. umm 'second gen' VR experience after the original Oculus and yeah geeeeeez it is more than a step forward from that, very usable.

[@alina8589]

ok as u are not using the head strap and I can't buy one right now I will pay 50$ for it let me know comment on one of my video's.

[@rkan2]

How about Varjo Aero?

[@Spinelli__]

Terrible vertical and horizontal FOV like every other headset besides Pimax not to mention barrel distortions, god rays, and tons of chromatic aberration. Plus, the Pimax Crystal coming out in the next month or so should obliterate the Varjo.

[@labpong7562]

@@Spinelli__ lol

[@rkan2]

@@Spinelli__ You tried it?

[@Spinelli__]

@@rkan2 It's supposed to be coming out next month; I haven't tried it. I'm going by the specs & features.

[@rkan2]

@@Spinelli__ But the Varjo?

[@Spinelli__]

If you just want to look at a panel through a lens shoved up to your face, get any other VR headset. If you actually want to be transported into the virtual world, get a Pimax.

[@Dual1969]

Hey Neils can you share your Automobilista 1 Config.ini file , for best clarity ? Thank You