How Sony's New PS VR2 Headset Stacks Up Against the Competition - Lifewire

The virtual world headset conflict is heating up, and immoderate experts deliberation Sony whitethorn extremity up connected top. 

Sony has confirmed the motorboat day and terms of the PlayStation VR2. The PS VR2 volition get connected February 22, 2023, for $550 and see the headset and 2 PS VR2 Sense controllers. On paper, astatine least, the PS VR2 offers advantages implicit the precocious released Meta Quest Pro. 

"The [PS VR2], successful my opinion, is simply a amended device; it weighs little and really has a 4K resolution," Bob Bilbruck, the CEO of Captjur and a exertion analyst, told Lifewire successful an email interview. "Quest Pro is heavier, [but] the full constituent of VR is an immersive experience. Meta uses face-tracking technology, whereas Sony uses precocious eye-tracking technology, which provides a overmuch much immersive idiosyncratic acquisition and realistic experience."

Fancy Gear

Sony is betting large connected its latest headset arsenic an accessory for its PlayStation 5 crippled console. Upgrades to the past procreation exemplary see headset feedback, oculus tracking, 3D audio, and the adaptive triggers and haptic feedback from the PS VR2 Sense controllers. 

The PS VR2 is getting upgraded optical tech arsenic well. Sony says it’ll person OLED oculus displays that each show astatine a 2000 x 2040 resolution, combining to adjacent 4000 x 2040 astatine a 110-degree tract of view. The headset tin bash 4K HDR and perchance deed up to 120 frames per second. It’s besides got 4 cameras for headset and controller tracking​ with an IR camera for oculus tracking. 

Anshel Sag, a tech expert for Moor Insights & Strategy, told Lifewire via email that the VR2 makes the astir consciousness arsenic a acquisition for existent owners of the PS5, which makes the terms of introduction $550 alternatively than astir $1,000+ since that's astir what it volition outgo to get the PS5 and PS VR2 together, depending connected the exemplary and region. 

"I would urge the PS VR2 to radical who are much apt to bargain PlayStation-exclusive VR titles oregon privation a higher fidelity graphical acquisition than what the Quest Pro tin offer," helium added. "The Quest Pro tin wirelessly tether to a PC for higher graphical performance."

A Tough Choice

One important quality betwixt the Sony VR headset and Meta's Quest Pro is that The PS VR2 is simply a tethered headset that uses a ligament to link to a PS5, Sag noted. The Meta Quest Pro is simply a standalone headset with each the hardware and bundle afloat integrated into the headset. 

"The PS VR2 has considerably much graphical horsepower acknowledgment to the customized AMD chipset wrong the PS5 versus the mobile chipset wrong the Meta Quest Pro," Sag added. "The PlayStation VR2 besides has higher solution displays than the Quest Pro and features oculus tracking for adjacent amended VR performance."

Not everyone thinks Sony is the mode to spell erstwhile it comes to VR, though. Technology advisor Rob Enderle contended successful an email interrogation with Lifewire that the Meta Quest Pro beats the Sony exemplary regarding convenience. 

The Meta instrumentality "is untethered and self-contained, portion the Sony Headset requires a PlayStation and is tethered," helium said. "The tether tin beryllium a travel hazard and restrains movement. However, the VR accessory for the PlayStation is astir 1/3rd the terms of the Pro, and the PlayStation has a acold larger imaginable lawsuit basal to enactment from than Meta."

Enderle said the astir important diagnostic to see erstwhile buying a VR headset is the bundle contented that's available. He besides said you should trial whether a VR acceptable makes you nauseous, a communal occupation with immoderate users. 

"Many radical can't usage the cheaper headsets due to the fact that they get sick, and playing a crippled with question sickness is nary fun," helium added. 

If you're considering buying Sony's mentation of VR, Enderle advises you to bespeak connected whether you similar the disposable Playstation games. 

"But travel the crippled to the device, not the different mode around; otherwise, you'll apt regret the purchase," helium added.