Who says you can’t see the world if you stay home? Ok, maybe you can not live the same experiences as with a backpack on your back, but on the other hand you can visit places that you would surely never visit, and also from the sofa in your house. How? We tell you in our last article.
Thanks to the innovations we have experienced in the last decade, virtual reality has recently gone from being a fuzzy idea that sounded like science fiction in the 90s to demonstrating its true potential in the last five years.
The combination of VR with other technologies such as photogrammetry or 360-degree video capture today allows us to virtually travel to destinations around the world. Excuses for not traveling are over.
We have tried and selected some of the best destinations and virtual reality tourist experiences that we present below so you can enjoy with your VR glasses:
The Grand Canyon Experience
Plataforms VR: HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, OSVR
Developer: Immersive Entertainment
The Grand Canyon Experience allows you to take a virtual kayak ride through the Grand Canyon of the Colorado, in the United States. The customization of this experience is quite broad, as we can adapt the tour to our preferences, from selecting whether we want our trip to be day or bathed in the moonlight to controlling the speed of the trip or where we want to stop.
While sailing we enjoy the sights and sounds of wildlife, quite well recreated. We will even be able to attract and feed virtual fish as we descend the Colorado River.
The trip is predefined, which means that we cannot guide the kayak with our controls, but we can stop at various points and enjoy the scenery using the boat’s speed controls and get off the kayak at some rest stops that have panoramic views.
The downside is that the tour is short and there is no extra information about the place, for example for history buffs. But it is a fun trip and a very interesting experience to start in the world of virtual reality. It is available from Valve’s Steam store and the Oculus Home app store.
Realities
Plataforms VR: HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, OSVR
Developer: Realities.io
Realities is a travel application that allows users to explore real-world modeled and scanned environments. The environments are not simple 360-degree photos, but locations that have been captured with 3D scanning equipment that allow an immersive representation in Virtual Reality.
The user interface is a giant globe that can rotate and locate destinations. Once you have decided the place you want to visit, simply touch the area and we will immediately move to the exotic location.
For example, one of the interesting destinations available is a cell in the infamous Alcatraz prison. Once you arrive at the cell, you are greeted by a mysterious man, presumably a former prisoner in the cell next to you, who explains what awaits you in that terrifying place.
It is very much like a museum and an educational experience worth trying.
There are other destinations of different sizes and complexity. Probably many others will be added in the future.
theBlu
Plataforms VR: HTC Vive, Oculus Rift
Developer: Wevr INC
Maybe you have ever wanted to dive under the deck of a sunken ship while a gigantic whale swims next to you looking you in the eye. Or maybe swimming in a sea of bioluminescent jellyfish is more your style.
Now you can do it skipping diving classes and immersion baptism. What’s more, you can do it from your own bathtub.
theBlu is a collection of underwater experiences in virtual reality that will make you feel like you are in the tank of a large aquarium.
The level of detail in this app is amazing and the sense of scale (especially during the encounter with the whales) is amazing.
theBlu is available on Valve’s Steam Store, Vive Port, and Oculus Home.
VR Museum of Fine Art
Plataforms VR: HTC Vive
Developer: Finn Sinclair
Maybe you have ever wanted to dive under the deck of a sunken ship while a gigantic whale swims next to you looking you in the eye. Or maybe swimming in a sea of bioluminescent jellyfish is more your style.
Now you can do it skipping diving classes and immersion baptism. What’s more, you can do it from your own bathtub.
theBlu is a collection of underwater experiences in virtual reality that will make you feel like you are in the tank of a large aquarium.
The level of detail in this app is amazing and the sense of scale (especially during the encounter with the whales) is amazing.
theBlu is available on Valve’s Steam Store, Vive Port, and Oculus Home.
Everest VR
Plataforms VR: HTC Vive
Developer: Sólfar Studios, RVX
Everest VR does not deceive, it is exactly what its title indicates: An immersive experience through the largest mountain in the world.
When Everest VR was initially released, it contained some cool interactive elements for mountain climbing as well as some great documentary-style vignettes that helped you feel like a participant rather than a mere spectator. But, despite some inventive content, the interactive experience and quality it offered in its first version were quite poor. Fortunately, the creators heard constructive criticism from those who bought the app and were disappointed. They ended up lowering the price and adding a lot more interactive content related to climbing to make the app a much better value.
If you like mountain climbing but don’t like being able to slip and die, you have to try Everest VR. You will feel like Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary when they reached their peak for the first time in history.
