 |
|
|
|
|
I don't know about anyone else, but I've always thought that if there were one way to improve the simulator, finding a way to easily move about the cockpit would be at the top of my list. Taxiing tail-draggers, for instance, is a royal pain when in real life you can lean out of the cockpit so that you don't have to zig-zag quite so much. Track-IR found a way around this problem, and now VRInsight has offered a less-expensive solution... How does it perform?
A modest green box arrived quite safely and intact from the company and its contents were safely nestled in form-fitting cardboard. Inside the cardboard box was a quick-start guide, CD, transmitter, receiver, two clips with adhesive on one side, and a USB cable extension. The quick-start guide details all of the things which should have arrived in the box, basic installation, and how to set up your HAT-Track. The transmitter is the three-pronged piece which attaches to your hat, and the receiver is the other piece of hardware which sits on the monitor. The transmitter looks rather large in the photos on VRInsight's web site, but in actuality it only measures about six inches high by five inches long.
The manual shows diagrams of the transmitter being clipped onto a radio headset, but I just used a plain baseball cap. The head of the transmitter can be swivelled, rotated, and pivoted to almost any direction, but it should be pointing straight forward from where you normally sit. Now, put on your headgear and face your monitor. The receiver should be placed on top of the monitor directly in front of your transmitter. The quick-start guide, which I failed to read at first, shows exactly how to set up your receiver. Ideally, you should place one clip on the front of your monitor and have the front portion of the adjustable base attached to that. Then, swing down the larger section of the base to rest on the clip on the back of your monitor. I did this differently, and I think my way is better. I simply sat the receiver on the monitor with the rear tilted up a bit, and then put one clip on the rear section to secure it. Then, I simply moved the whole hinged base up and down, rather than just adjusting the actual receiver screen. The problem with the recommended installation is that the back of the receiver's screen attaches directly to the USB cable; because of this, the USB cable's weight drags the receiver out of position. My setup is sort of rickety, but so long as I don't bump my monitor things work out quite well.
Now that you're all set up, it's time to connect the cables. As I said, the receiver is attached to the main USB cable and the transmitter is hooked up by a 9mm jack. Halfway along the USB cable is a splitter for the transmitter to plug in to. Once done, simply connect the cable into the USB slot, using the extender if necessary.
Now that you're looking like a dork with the weird trident by your ear, it's time to get flying! First of all, load the CD. There are tons of useful stuff on this CD, but the first step is to install the software. Secondly, check out the manual, which covers everything you need to know about this product in very understandable terms. You must have FSUIPC (registered or unregistered) installed, as well as simconnect. The CD even includes both of these programs so that you don't have to go digging for them on the internet. This was really a blessing for me, since while I was reviewing this product my simconnect somehow got disabled. I would have been lost, since it seems that your average forum guru doesn't know a lot about simconnect, but thanks to VRInsight's foresight I was saved a lot of hassle. In addition to HAT-Track, there's also a little mouse-track utility. This functions much like the 'mouse yoke' included with FSX, but adds something like a little red HUD, giving you basic information like heading, altitude, etc.
After everything is installed, it's time to calibrate your HAT-Track. Go into the Start Menu and open up the HAT-Track program. As you'll see, the program tracks the movements of your head. First of all, twiddle the transmitter around so that you get a 'vector line', or rather a straight vertical line on the program window. If you can't get it quite perfect, don't worry about it. Next, open up 'Settings'. This is the absolute brains of the product and you can do just about anything you need here. However, I'm sure you just want to get flying by now, so go to 'User Configuration', click 'Load', and then select the simconnect file near the bottom. Then, click 'OK'. Now you're ready to fly, but leave the HAT-Track program open otherwise it won't work. Boot up and see what happens; if you get dizzy, don't worry because it's very unusual at first. Once you've had your fun, exit the simulator and bring up the HAT-Track program again. The settings which VRInsight loaded by default are, I think, very good. However, they're more sensitive than you want at first, so I recommend dumbing down the sensitivities via the controls on the left of the program window. Once you're accustomed to the product, experiment with settings until you're happy. There are infinite possibilities, but now that I've had it for awhile and am quite used to it, I use the settings that come default with HAT-Track.
As I said, there are tons of things to learn how to use in the program. First of all, have a look at the floating dead-zone. It's a rather ingenious little thing which makes it a lot easier to fly with the tracker. If you have it enabled, you can select the amount of seconds you have to stare at one spot for the program to still the movements. As you'll see, it's pretty tough to click switches when your view is constantly moving - mind you, they're very small movements, but the floating dead-zone makes things a lot easier for sure.
'Smoothness' is another thing that you can control. I set this to the highest value and experienced no ill-effects, and the gameplay was very smooth here. I'd recommend this as the best setting. On the right of the program are controls for centering and pausing HAT-Track. This lets you assign a keyboard control to pausing, or temporarily disabling tracking, and centering, which simply resets your view to center. The 'View Offset' controls work exactly the same way; this allows you to adjust where the centered position is in-game, which is very useful since I found that, by default, I found that the view was a little too high and too far back for my tastes. Lastly, you have the 'Game Interface' section. This is very important, and I do not recommend messing with this, since you can end up looking very stupid in the eyes of VRInsight's tech support. The thing is, the only way for this program to work in FSX is to have it using the simconnect file. When you select the simconnect file, it checks the 'FSX' game interface, which is normally faded out so that you can't select it. If you choose to experiment with the other game interfaces, which don't work correctly in FSX, you won't be able to select FSX again unless you select the simconnect file. I did this, but unfortunately I saved over the simconnect file. In the end I just had to reinstall the software, so hopefully others can benefit from my bout with 'curiosity killed the cat'.
There, that's done now. There's a lot of text just about how to use the product, but in real life you can be flying happily with HAT-Track in just minutes. I wanted to include an in-depth study of how to get going, because I often find that, with hardware, the instructions aren't always completely satisfactory. The thing is, I want to do things exactly as they should be, since I can just see myself breaking something important and having to buy a new one. Not my cup of tea, that...
Now, the moment you've all been waiting for, actually flying! First, switch to the virtual cockpit (head tracking does not work with the 2D panel). It's really the simplest concept--move your head in any direction, and your view in-game will change accordingly. You can lean forward to get a closer view of an instrument, duck down to switch some controls on a side panel, tilt your head to get a new angle for screen shots, or look up to gaze at the clouds. The thing is, the ratio of your movements compared to this in-game is very large. If you turned your head the same amount as what you would turn in real life, you wouldn't be looking at the screen any more. So, I prefer high sensitivities so that I don't have to move my head a lot, and thus don't have to gaze out of the corners of my eyes a lot. Everyone will have different preferences, but as I said I recommend putting low sensitivities until you adjust to the product. For that matter, please have patience - you've paid a good chunk of money for this, and you need to realize that you'll have to adjust to this product. In the early stages when I was experimenting with the sensitivities, I set them way too high. Once I booted up the sim, my view was whirling around at the slightest movement, and I did get rather dizzy. This is normal, and that's why I recommend gently easing yourself into the product so that you don't get too exasperated. Honestly, once you've adjusted to it, you'll never look back.
There are tons of places where HAT-Track comes in useful. Take, for example, a C-130. There are controls all over the cockpit, and it's a right pain having to remember the default key commands for moving around your viewpoint. With this tracking program, you can really access anything you want, but keep in mind that you'll probably have to pause the program and use those key commands if you want to get up and explore the cabin.
Let's have another example. I recently acquired the excellent A2A P-47D, and it, like so many taildraggers, is a chore to taxi. While you can turn to the side to get a view of the taxiway, it's a lot easier to lean out of the cockpit with HAT-Track, or even 'stand up' and look over the engine.
There are other applications for this device, and I can't think of any aircraft that couldn't benefit from this. It's just outstanding how much more convenient and realistic HAT-Track makes your flights, and it's almost like it opens up a new dimension that, previously, I was confined from. I will admit that I'm running out of things to write about because one of the beautiful things of this tracker is its marvelous simplicity--in concept and application.
I do not own TrackIR, but since these two products are in direct competition, it seems only right to record my thoughts. Firstly, from a commercial standpoint, it's less expensive than TrackIR, which, for me at least, would decide the deal. Secondly, TrackIR has a ton of options which you can spend more or less money on, and I don't like that; it's sort of like how Microsoft sold two versions of FSX, probably trying to make more money. HAT-Track also has the same horizontal field of vision as TrackIR (46 degrees horizontal), but of course for less money. Separately, one should keep in mind that the system being reviewed here is currently compatible with FS2004 and FSX, and VRInsight is working on compatibility with other products; TrackIR already functions with more games to varying degrees of success. Lastly, I've heard that TrackIR doesn't perform well in well-lit conditions, but I experience no similar problems with my HAT-Track.
So, in the end, it's up to you to do research on what product you think will be best for you. My thoughts on the matter are that HAT-Track is less expensive and it works flawlessly. It would be rather nice if we could see a comparison review of these two in the future, but my favor lies with HAT-Track because of its affordability.
Hardware has never been high on my list of priorities and I'm beginning to wonder why. It's extraordinary what HAT-Track can do for a flight, and it's a blessed luxury of having your hands free to work the mouse, controller, and throttles in the hectic moments of takeoff and landing. Aside from the essentials like a yoke and computer upgrades, I'm confident in saying that there is no better way of spending $100 than on this product; I wouldn't have known it when I began this review, but in a short time my hobby has taken another step up, and has been quietly revolutionized by this extraordinary piece of art.
Having read this review to make various corrections, I'd just like to add to the HAT-Track and TrackIR comparison, since I own TrackIR. As a general rule, if you only plan to use Flight Simulator, then HAT-Track seems like a better deal. However, TrackIR has a whole catalog of games that it works with, and at minimum every game has X and Y rotation, which is basically how TrackIR started out. It was later that TrackIR expanded into the other six-degrees X, Y and Z, rotation and movement, with the new TrackIR 4 Pro as well as expansion for TrackIR 3, that newer games supported these, but older ones that went without updates didn't, which was of little concern since just turning your head was more than enough to get you immersed.
In the end, I'm very happy with TrackIR since installation and mounting was simple, getting me flying (or driving) in under ten minutes, and I haven't had any trouble with it since I received it around a year ago (plus, I got a free hat).
In the end, my recommendation would probably be TrackIR since I own it, but that's only if you plan to be playing many games with support for the device. If you only plan to fly FS and nothing else, HAT-Track is probably your best bet.
Learn More Here
|
Intel Q6600 at 2.4 GHz
Windows Vista Home Edition 64 bit
MSI P35 Neo II
ATI 4850 512MB
2GB Corsair Dominator
Microsoft Flight Simulator X, Acceleration
|
Kevin Glover |
|
[ Back
| Home
| Main Menu
| Logout
]
Copyright © 2010 by FlightSim.Com, Inc. All Rights Reserved.