Honest opinions on getting into VR

[Flashy]

Hi Everyone,

I have been tempted for many years to get into VR for Il-2, but the costs were always prohibitive for me. However, I have recently noticed that used Quest 3's are getting into the ballpark of affordability (around $350 here) so I am wondering if I should dive in and give it a try. I have many questions regarding the whole VR thing though, and it seems the more forum threads and reddit posts I read, the more confusing it becomes 😅. So I guess my main questions around this are:
 

• how difficult is it to set up and get working nicely with Il-2? I see there are different apps like SteamVR, Virtual desktop etc, and lots of settings to play with.. which kinda makes it sound like you spend more time struggling and fiddling with settings than actually playing! Is this accurate? 
• My PC is on the slightly weak side in some respects (i3 12100, 32gb RAM, 3080 GPU). I can play normal Il-2 at 4k with no issues on this machine, but will I be able to get decent performance with the Quest 3 on this setup? I can maybe spring for a new CPU (i7 12700) but a new GPU is still way too expensive.. should I even bother to try VR on my rig?

thats all for now.. I'm sure there will be more questions..

[dgiatr]

5 hours ago, Flashy said:

Hi Everyone,

I have been tempted for many years to get into VR for Il-2, but the costs were always prohibitive for me. However, I have recently noticed that used Quest 3's are getting into the ballpark of affordability (around $350 here) so I am wondering if I should dive in and give it a try. I have many questions regarding the whole VR thing though, and it seems the more forum threads and reddit posts I read, the more confusing it becomes 😅. So I guess my main questions around this are:
 

• how difficult is it to set up and get working nicely with Il-2? I see there are different apps like SteamVR, Virtual desktop etc, and lots of settings to play with.. which kinda makes it sound like you spend more time struggling and fiddling with settings than actually playing! Is this accurate? 
• My PC is on the slightly weak side in some respects (i3 12100, 32gb RAM, 3080 GPU). I can play normal Il-2 at 4k with no issues on this machine, but will I be able to get decent performance with the Quest 3 on this setup? I can maybe spring for a new CPU (i7 12700) but a new GPU is still way too expensive.. should I even bother to try VR on my rig?

thats all for now.. I'm sure there will be more questions..

Hi, VR is really nice , a game changer in IL2 , I could say..but under some conditions...

1. Probably your card is rather marginal for a decent image through Vr. I am flying with an rtx 3090 ti at about 3000x3000 resolution at 72 hz , with medium clouds, no mirrors, no shadows at all and 2XMSAA using openxr toolkit and opencomposite ( not steamvr ) for better results. At about 3000x3000 is the minimum resolution in vr in order to identify other planes at a long distance and not get bounced every time and i cannot go higher in resolution with that card and the other settings i have already mentioned...

2. I have a 13900 kf cpu , a little overclocked in order to deal with stuttering in busy scenes with multiple objects ( planes, especially AI objects, buildings, etc...) since il2 code is higly cpu single-cored and unfortunately not multi-cored. My tower is well ventilated in order to cope with high working temperatures of cpu and GPU. From the moment I opened the front case panel I stopped suffering from crashes and heavy stuttering especially during summer time.

3. I can reassure you that quest3 is the best value for money Vr device for now. I fly with usb cable and I have no problem at all.....BUT YOU TO BE VERY PATIENT in order to manage the best settings for your rig ( cpu, gpu, vr and game settings)...if you are not PATIENT ENOUGH VR ISNT FOR YOU!!.

If you cannot buy an advanced GPU,  at least I could say that you should buy a better cpu than the one you are planning to with a very good single core performance cause IL2 is a heavily single cored application and it can easily overload a weak cpu during playing.

 

 

Edited June 3 by dgiatr

[Aapje]

I have a 12400 + 4070 + 32 GB RAM, which is fairly similar to your setup. The 12100 just has 2 fewer cores, but I'm not sure whether that matters that much with IL-2, which does not seem to use that many CPU cores. And the 3080 is about on par with a 4070. I would not upgrade the CPU unless you notice that it is limiting you.

I'm quite content with the performance on my Quest 3, so I would say to go for it. I personally could not enter combat without VR anymore after experiencing the benefits. However, different people have different standards with regard to visual quality and FPS, and you will definitely trade some visual quality for the huge benefits of VR. I do depend on the 'assist' that identifies planes for me because the visuals at distance are not good enough to be able to do this myself in a realistic way. Spotting is excellent, though.

Also keep in mind that the Quest 3 skimped on comfort a lot. I would reserve a little money for at least a headstrap replacement, and probably also a new facial interface. If you wear glasses, then inserts are also a big improvement and they keep your Quest safe from some naughty lens on lens action that can cause scratches.

A powered USB 3 hub with a good USB cable is very useful to allow you to get in a good flying session.

Setting it up is a challenge, with various settings and tools that you need to get right. For example, I consider XRNecksafer a must. However, once I got it set up properly, I almost never have problems with the VR side of things. So it is a matter of getting things right and after that the fiddling should mostly be over.

Do keep in mind that motion/VR sickness can also affect you and may require gradually doing longer and longer game sessions until your brains adapt.

If you decide to go for it, I can answer more specific questions, point to settings guides, etc.

[GiftGruen]

Simply: Do it ! Flying in VR is an absolute great experience.

And in case you dont like it - what I can hardly imagine to be honest - just sell the Q3 again.

More GPU power is always nice in VR, but your rig should be able to give a decent experience. As Aapje already told you, take some time to optimize comfort and settings and dont give up too fast.

And yes, for sure dont fly with glasses, they ruin it! Invest the money for lenses from VRoptician or HonsVR if needed.

I preferred VirtualDesktop and wireless over USB cable. But that’s probably a matter of taste.

[AEthelraedUnraed]

On 6/3/2026 at 10:09 AM, Flashy said:

• how difficult is it to set up and get working nicely with Il-2? I see there are different apps like SteamVR, Virtual desktop etc, and lots of settings to play with.. which kinda makes it sound like you spend more time struggling and fiddling with settings than actually playing! Is this accurate? 

I have a Quest 2. Usually, it's easy enough to start playing. But every once in a while, something goes wrong and I spend half an hour rebooting and fiddling with settings before it works again. I've also got the occasional disconnect, with varying results when trying to get back into the game. As Aapje says, make sure you have a good USB cable to mitigate the issue. Still, with all the hassles, VR is well worth it 🙂

On 6/3/2026 at 10:09 AM, Flashy said:

• My PC is on the slightly weak side in some respects (i3 12100, 32gb RAM, 3080 GPU). I can play normal Il-2 at 4k with no issues on this machine, but will I be able to get decent performance with the Quest 3 on this setup? I can maybe spring for a new CPU (i7 12700) but a new GPU is still way too expensive.. should I even bother to try VR on my rig?

"Decent performance" is subjective 🙂 I used to play on a 2060. On the lowest graphics settings, I could just about reach 30FPS. That's too low for many people, but luckily I'm not too sensitive to low framerates. With a 3080, I expect you'll have a decent experience as long as you don't put your graphics too high.

I would recommend to try VR at least once, before you buy a headset. Some people experience motion sickness. It's not unusual to feel a bit queasy the first few times you try it, and you will get used to it. But if you instantly feel sick, VR might not be for you.

[kraut1]

On 6/3/2026 at 10:09 AM, Flashy said:

Hi Everyone,

I have been tempted for many years to get into VR for Il-2, but the costs were always prohibitive for me. However, I have recently noticed that used Quest 3's are getting into the ballpark of affordability (around $350 here) so I am wondering if I should dive in and give it a try. I have many questions regarding the whole VR thing though, and it seems the more forum threads and reddit posts I read, the more confusing it becomes 😅. So I guess my main questions around this are:
 

• how difficult is it to set up and get working nicely with Il-2? I see there are different apps like SteamVR, Virtual desktop etc, and lots of settings to play with.. which kinda makes it sound like you spend more time struggling and fiddling with settings than actually playing! Is this accurate? 
• My PC is on the slightly weak side in some respects (i3 12100, 32gb RAM, 3080 GPU). I can play normal Il-2 at 4k with no issues on this machine, but will I be able to get decent performance with the Quest 3 on this setup? I can maybe spring for a new CPU (i7 12700) but a new GPU is still way too expensive.. should I even bother to try VR on my rig?

thats all for now.. I'm sure there will be more questions..

I am flying with a 6 years old average gaming PC and a Rift-S of same age. 
And the whole time I am at the lower limit of performance.
I use OpenComposite to get some ca. 20% additional FPS for the disadvantage of a bit lower graphic quality.
Very importent is for me effective mission design with limited number of planes and flying when the weather is good with clear sky or some few Cirrus clouds is helpful too.

Due to my old system I can't help you directly with informations but maybe one topic is interesting for you:
After flying many years only in WW2 I started this year flying from time to time FC WW1 missions with VR and it seems to me that this works very well in respect of FPS in comparison with WW2...
Maybe others experienced the same?

[Jeronimo83]

I would also seriously consider the PSVR2 headset with a PC adapter. After using many headsets with and without OLED, I concluded I can't get immersed with LCD. Also the PSVR2 has ability to do eye tracking , and although it is not supported by Sony natively, there is a mod that enables this. IL2 can make use dynamic foveated rendering, and it does make a 10-20% performance difference. In DCS, using quad views and eye tracking, the perfomance gain is more like 100% (!) which makes for a huge advantage. DCS really outperforms IL2 in this respect (unfortunately). 

[GiftGruen]

IL2 supports DFR? That‘s new to me. i once owned a QuestPro and my research then told me that IL2 does‘nt support it, but maybe I am wrong.

[dgiatr]

3 hours ago, GiftGruen said:

IL2 supports DFR? That‘s new to me. i once owned a QuestPro and my research then told me that IL2 does‘nt support it, but maybe I am wrong.

Ι don't think il2 supports DFR..

[Adler]

I don't know what to say.
Bought QUEST 3 to experience VR and it is amazing but visual quality, spotting ability all went down to the toilet. Spent around 3-4 days trying all kinds of programs and what not to get the game running nicely. And I did but at what cost? Havening to go from Ultra settings to standard, having issues barely recognizing planes.. Now I am thinking of selling Quest 3.
 
Will try couple of more tweaks to balance the look but honestly not feeling to confident. 
Guys don't get me wrong, I love VR but its a huge trade-off for me. 

 

[Aapje]

Did you increase the encode bitrate? But it's hard to say what the potential of your hardware is, when I have no idea what you've got.

 

[Adler]

1 hour ago, Aapje said:

Did you increase the encode bitrate? But it's hard to say what the potential of your hardware is, when I have no idea what you've got.

 

I updated my profile so it should show my PC specs. 

Yes, it is at 500mb since I'm connected with a cable/AMVR link cable. Im gonna be honest I am more than willing to do more tests, try to optimize it more. But I am starting to think my GPU is too weak. 

[Aapje]

I was able to push my bitrate to 700 once I got my 4070, but it seems to be hardware-dependent.

What GPU do you have? 

Edited June 6 by Aapje

[Traffic]

Q3 also supports AV1 codec so you should give that a try. Also, maybe look into Virtual Desktop. To me the colors are more vibrant and its very simple to dial in settings.

[Aapje]

The issue with AV1 is that the headset support only low encoding rates with that codec. When using a cable, you get higher quality by using H264 with a high encoding bitrate. AV1 is an option when using wireless, which limits the encoding bitrate.

[Gutholz]

On 6/4/2026 at 2:22 PM, AEthelraedUnraed said:

I have a Quest 2. Usually, it's easy enough to start playing. But every once in a while, something goes wrong and I spend half an hour rebooting and fiddling with settings before it works again. 

Same here. Sometimes I have to turn the headset off/on again, reboot PC or restart all the apps and then it will randomly work like normal. Especially annoying if you have to take off the headset a few times. Sometimes when starting IL2, the meta or steam overlay will pop up and I swear: every time it requires clicking in different places to make it go away. Just small annoyances like that, generally it works well.

I think VR is one of the few recent true advancements in PC gaming. Graphics get (slightly) better each year but it is more a gradual progress and after a few years it already looks dated. On the other hand, VR is something unique that actually brings a new experience.

Setup was at times confusing but overall not too hard and I did not spend any time at all tweaking settings, just default everything. My PC had enough performance for smooth FPS all the time so luckily no need to fiddle around there. Not sure if image quality can be improved. I did not look into it yet because I am afraid of that rabbit hole.

Spotting/id can be problematic but not sure how much it is an VR problem or skill issue. It seems to be a problem for everyone, VR or flatscreen, just the nature of distant fast moving objects. Most instruments in the cockpit are readable, for very small instruments one might need to lean forward a bit. Despite its shortcomings the Quest 2 is definately good enough to score high in multiplayer, as I have seen others do it. One friend uses an a very old Oculus headset and even that is good enough to shot up some practice targets on Combat Box training server, both ground and air. (He has not yet dared to go into "real" servers so no idea if it would hold up there)

Headtracking works very well, very smooth, no jitter or jumps. Looking around feels natural. No need to adjust any curves or parameters like with TrackIR style tracking.

I only get a slightly uneasy feeling in certain situations, like on take-off when looking down and watching the ground "fall away" or steeply banked turns in low level flight. But it is more an immersive feeling rather than sickness. I get a bit more lightheaded when doing very wild moves with the free camera, like spinning the camera around while moving backwards. 

The long loading times of IL2 are annoying when initially setting up VR or solving problems, if you have to restart a few times you will spent many minutes sitting there like an idiot with that funny device on your head and staring at black screens. I always use the race sim Live for Speed ( lfs.net , there is free demo ) for that. Unlike IL2 it loads very fast and switching between flatscreen and VR is instant! If you get motion sickness in VR then driving games might be worthing trying out. The movement is (mostly) only in 2 dimensions and something that most people are used to from real life. 

Keyboard is difficult to use in VR, sometimes even buttons on controllers can be difficult to find at first.

In startup.cfg set    or_render_eye = 1    that way on your flat screen it will only render the display of one eye (instead of two) That way you can sometimes take the headset of and look at your screen to navigate menus, look at the map or chat. Useful in multiplayer if you are waiting for others to land or respawn etc.

[Flashy]

Thanks everyone for all the replies! I have been reading them, but just havent responded yet.. sorry about that. I also found that the Quest 3 headset which I was considering as "affordable" was the S model, which doesnt have the pancake lenses and is apparently considerably worse. So I am still thinking if I can justify the extra outlay for the non S version. Spotting has always been a problem for me (at least for the WW2 planes - I can identify the WW1 ones no problem, but all WW2 fighters look the same😅) so I am not too concerned with that at the moment.. I actually mostly fly WW1 and the cargo planes/bombers etc because I am pretty useless at dogfighting. I am keen to try it mostly for the increased immersion and not to be competitive in MP. I am also just sick of the TrackIR nonsense.. it never works the same way twice.. you can set it up and play a mission where it works perfectly, put it down and go to the bathroom, then when you come back it has decided that it cant track your head properly anymore... drives me insane! 

It does sound like the implementation is still a bit flaky and requires lots of tinkering, and I generally dont have patience for things like that...when my gaming starts to feel like work then I lose interest very quickly... but could be worth it in the long run...

[Woody]

Once I tried the game in VR, their was no going back to a flat screen for me. Also I would recommend voice attack if you do get VR, as it can be a pain finding the right key on a keyboard with a headset on.