For some of you who may consider the price a bit steep, you might want to consider FreeTrack (FT) as an alternative to TrackIR. Like TIR, FT provides 6DOFs in AHII.
My 2 cents: I decided to go this route because I wanted to use head-tracking with a 3 monitor set up that I recently rigged up , but given the outlay i'd put into that, buying a TIR was a one-way ticket to divorce court. About 3 or 4 guys in my squad use TIR, and they all rave about it, so this prompted my interest in head tracking.
Most folk build their own reflector clips or LED trees for FT. However, when I thought about it, I didn't want to use reflectors due to my concern over camera sensitivity, and the tutorials I found for homebuilt LED headgear were usually battery-powered. So I spent a little extra and bought a TIR Pro Clip ($35 from NaturalPoint or GoGamer), hooked it up to an easily modified webcam (MS VX6000, a gift), and downloaded FreeTrack (as in... free) at
www.free-track.net.
The VX6000 camera works incredibly well with FT, it's very sensitive and gives a full FPS receptivity. All I did was remove the internal infrared filter, which took 3 minutes total time. FreeTrack is well-featured software, on a par with TIR's software, I think. And the Pro Clip works just fine with it, and is USB powered, which is what I wanted.
FT BENEFITS:
Cheaper
Comparable (IMO) to TIR: full-featured GUI
Works with all games that support TIR
AHII recognizes it just fine for all 6DOFs
Robust user community (help, tips, etc.)
FT DRAWBACKS:
A do-it-yourself solution: involves sweat equity
No warranties
English documentation isn't as good as the original manuals (in French).
If using a Pro Clip, you'll have the extra wire for that to deal with.
IMPRESSIONS:
i've only been using it about 2-3 weeks. Most of the first week was spent trying to get my settings correct, as I was trying to make this work with 3 monitors. I've mostly gotten it, but because I have to traverse more screen real-estate, I think it's still too sensitive when my head is traversing views toward the side and rear of the plane (yaw, mostly). I think this is not an issue with the software, but rather that I just haven't gotten the settings tweaked correctly YET. A work in progress on that issue.
I use and enjoy it immensely, but I have some of the same issues with the American naval planes as others do. I've used the "forward/down" centering trick, but so far I haven't got it quite right, and my views in the blue iron planes is sometimes dismal (I love the FM2 for field defense, but now I'm reluctant to use it because all I see is the rear bulkhead). That rear view that Lusche (think it was Lusche) posted still evades me. To get around this, I kept my hat switch view-mapped and sometimes use it for rear views, like others have said.
IMO, TIR/FT have a big impact on SA and immersion (especially in three panels). It may not make you a stone killer in the air, but it adds to the virtual experience. Your head is now separated from the plane. If the plane banks, your head is free to maintain other aspects, closer to a real life experience, I think. At first its bewildering but you learn to use finer head movements and I find I can track stuff, especially anything at or ahead of my 3-9 line, with natural ease. Gunnery needs to be relearned though, and I'm working on that, but I find that I can take snapshots now that I couldn't before. Go figure.
FWIW,
