Just how much of an advantage does Track IR bring?

[The Fugitive]

you can also keep a target centered while pulling to a quarter sized hole in a black out. Being almost totally blacked out and STILL being able to see what the enemy is doing is a bit of an advantage as well.

The only issue I have with it is aiming. Instead of having  that "site picture" with the target just off the upright bar as your firing point, you now have far more "angles/views your looking at and so that many more site pictures. I suppose if you put enough time in with it you would get use to it, but with my schedule it makes it that much tougher to get and maintain a good hit percentage. We all know if you don't hit them hard, you don't knock them down fast, and then you die 

[save]

I would stop flying AH if my trackIR would break down, until I fixed a new one, I use instant view on a hat, together with the trackIR

[WpnX]

you can also keep a target centered while pulling to a quarter sized hole in a black out. Being almost totally blacked out and STILL being able to see what the enemy is doing is a bit of an advantage as well.

Maybe I'm not understanding you correctly but I've never been able to see what the enemy is doing while blacked out in TrackIR. Can you explain this a little more?

[FLS]

Maybe I'm not understanding you correctly but I've never been able to see what the enemy is doing while blacked out in TrackIR. Can you explain this a little more?

He means tunnel vision not blackout.

[The Fugitive]

Maybe I'm not understanding you correctly but I've never been able to see what the enemy is doing while blacked out in TrackIR. Can you explain this a little more?

He means tunnel vision not blackout.

Correct, pulling ALMOST into a black out

[Plazus]

I have used TrackIR and I loved it. It just felt more natural to look around and check your surroundings while in the cockpit. While hat switch may be faster, TrackIR offers hands-free head movement, which is nice since you can use more of your joystick buttons for other purposes. It does take getting used to as it may leave you feeling disoriented at first when learning to use it. Once you get more comfortable, you can start tweaking the sensitivity of the motion sensor to suit your comfort level/play style.

[Drano]

Used the hat switches for a long long time up until a year or so ago when i started with TIR. I don't know that it gives you "an advantage" but after you get used to using it it seems very natural and intuitive looking around. Now when I watch other's films that are using the hat switches I'll be moving my head trying to change the view! It DOES take some getting used to but once you've got the hang of it there'll be no going back. That said I still have my views mapped to the hat switch on my CH stick and revert to them from time to time. Old habits die hard. The hats on instant view are quicker if you have to track multiple bad guys from multiple directions.

[Randy1]

A framed canopy like a P-38 really helps setting up Trackir.  The frames give you a reference.

[Blagard]

Interesting thread! I have been flying AH for many years and have just ordered the latest Trackir. It will be interesting to see how it affects my game. I use a couple of hat switches (8 way on throttle, 4 way on stick for up and down) and the micro stick on my CH Throttle. The micro stick lets me move my head up/down side to side in forward view. So in theory it is going to be a major change for me. Also for info I only use AH mapping as I found that the CH control manager caused occasional views to stick.

The biggest plus I anticipate is keeping the enemy in the middle of the screen instead of it shifting as view angles are changed. As for the negatives .... well I shall see (pun intended!).  I am also hopeful it will seem more natural and so improve awareness of aircraft attitude which I find unsettling with the hat views.

[Bino]

It only took me about fifteen minutes to become a TrackIR fanboi, back when I got my old TrackIR 3 Pro.  I never had the dizzyness that some have experienced, luckily.  I now have the TrackIR 5 with the LED-based TrackClip Pro, and I simply won't fly without it. 

I do have both the "pause" and "re-center" functions mapped to buttons on my controllers, and use them often, especially when making long-range shots.

YMMV

[FLS]

A framed canopy like a P-38 really helps setting up Trackir.  The frames give you a reference.

The tower windows are really good for that too after the initial setup in the TIR camera window. 

[guncrasher]

this is a short film I made about using trakir and it explains what akak is talking about following a con while almost blacking out.  I dove on this guy from a really high altitude while he was trying to run to ack.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTv4y63JheY


semp

[Oldman731]

this is a short film I made about using trakir and it explains what akak is talking about following a con while almost blacking out.  I dove on this guy from a really high altitude while he was trying to run to ack.

Might be more difficult if you're in a Typhoon instead of a Spit.  But I missed the difference between TrackIR and hat key.

- oldman

[guncrasher]

Might be more difficult if you're in a Typhoon instead of a Spit.  But I missed the difference between TrackIR and hat key.

- oldman

post a film that can do the same thing while using a hat key rather than trackir.


semp

[Blagard]

My tracker arrived today and first of all it seems very simple to set up. Because your virtual head is no longer fixed in the cockpit it certainly made looking around interesting! - One thing I like to keep an eye on is my remaining ammo and the joystick is usually in the way so the first plus is I can just tilt my head to look around it as you would for real. As the views are no longer incremental and just one smooth pan in any direction you want I can certainly believe it will add to the immersion aspect of the game.

The initial negative is, I can see it will take a little while to settle into the looking around generally as with the view panning being amplified, a slight movement of the head is a big one on the monitor. Of course it has to be because you want to look behind without loosing the view of the monitor. So far this is the only downside and frankly once accustomed to it, I am sure it will be fine.

So what else comes to mind - Freeing up moving the hat switch means you are going to able to do something else at the same time easier such as operating the flaps or whatever. At the moment I have to work on not using the hat switch because I have become trained to use it without thinking!

Bottom line is that I suspect the advantage may only be slight - just as having a joystick with many buttons can be an advantage over one with only a few, but the immersion factor is going to add pleasure in playing. So I would rate this as an add on after you have your full controls set up of stick, throttle and pedals.