VR hands suggestion for improved pilot feedback and stick behavior -- Ultrawings style

  • I've really been enjoying the new VR hands. Honestly, when I first tried them I thought "hmm, this is interesting, but no way will I use this instead of my hardware stick/throttle", but I've been continuing to adapt to them and now might even prefer them to the old HOTAS!

    I have a suggestion that I think will make them work better and feel easier to use. There is another VR flight game called Ultrawings, and it also uses a VR-hands approach to flying. IMO, Ultrawings really nailed the issue of keeping your hand aligned to the flight stick, without actually having a real stick to align your hand.

    I'll try to describe, but if the devs have access to Ultrawings it'd really be best just to fire it up and see how it handles it. There are two key differences between how it behaves vs AeroFly when using the flight stick:
    (1) In Ultrawings, as your hand starts to approach the hard limits of the stick's travel, it uses the haptic feedback of the controller to indicate this. As you get close to the limits, it starts to vibrate, and the vibration increases in intensity until it's at a maximum at the stick limit. If you continue to move your hand beyond the stick limit, it will keep vibrating until you bring it back to where it should be. Your brain quickly adapts to this feedback and soon it's very easy to know where your stick is and how much more travel you've got left.

    (2) The other thing that Ultrawings does that I prefer is how it deals with your hand when you take it past the stick travel limits. In AeroFly right now, if I am gripping the flight stick, and keep moving my hand beyond where the stick has reached its limit, when I move my hand back toward the stick again it creates a fixed displacement between my hand and the stick. In other words, if I move my hand left until the stick stops moving and keep going 6 inches further left, when I begin to move my hand right, the stick will now be 'stuck' 6 inches to the right of my hand. It stays like this until you release your grip and re-grab the stick.

    Compare this to Ultrawings, which works more like having a rubber-band attached between your hand and the stick. If you keep moving your hand beyond the stick limits in Ultrawings, it will allow you to do so (with the haptic feedback buzzing to warn you), and then as you move your hand back, the stick will stay at that directional limit until your hand re-aligns with the grip again. It is indeed just like having your hand connected to the stick via a rubber band, that stretches when you go too far, but then holds things back together when they re-align.


    The problem with AeroFly's absolute displacement offset becomes really apparent when flying aircraft with a yoke instead of a stick. If you aren't paying attention and pull your hand 12 inches to the side of the yoke, and then bring it back while still holding the grip button, it appears that the center of rotation gets way off so that the yoke wildly turns right and left as you move your hand. To fix it you have to release the grip and grab again, and be very careful about keeping your grasp lined up closely to the yoke.

    I think this "rubber-band" grip combined with the haptics at the travel limits would also really improve the feel of throttles, where I usually fly gripping them but not actually looking at them. I've had many times where I pulled my hand too far one way or the other and then when I tried to throttle back on landing, I couldn't move my arm back far enough to reach minimum throttle without releasing the grip and grabbing again.

  • I totally get the displacement thing, but would love it as an option.

    For the most part it is really annoying. On the other hand, it does allow you to manipulate controls for comfort. So by grabbing the yoke and overly moving back and left the right amount, I can position my arm comfortably on my arm rest with the yoke now being centered.

    Given the choice of one or the other though, I'd prefer the more realistic approach and that elastic band method sounds great.

  • ...On the other hand, it does allow you to manipulate controls for comfort. So by grabbing the yoke and overly moving back and left the right amount, I can position my arm comfortably on my arm rest with the yoke now being centered.

    That is a really great point, and I wonder if IPACS implemented it how they did for that reason. There are certainly pros and cons of each approach. I've already adapted pretty well to its current behavior, but I find the 'rubber-band' style more natural personally. If there's any other Ultrawings players here, I'm curious which control style they prefer.

  • I suppose it depends on the person, but I definitely thought it was. It's a very different style than a realistic sim like AeroFly, but the flight physics are actually a great mix of realism combined with pure fun. The 'missions' that you fly are challenging but entertaining, and the graphics are really nice in their own cartoonish way. I got so hooked on it that I played completely through every mission in a couple weeks, but it did take a fair bit of time in total. There are only three different aircraft, but they all have very different flying characteristics and are a nice balance. FWIW, my brother (who is not at all a flight sim enthusiast) also bought it with a lot of skepticism, but after a few days told me it was his new favorite vr game. I think refunds are available on both the Oculus store and Steam now, so I'd suggest trying it and if you don't like it you can always get your money back :)

  • Is Ultrawings worth it? Much content for the money?

    I do not like it at all. You have to do task ( fly threw targets with step angle of attack up or down. shoot at balloons and take photos ) in order to land at other airports. You start with one plane then there is a glider I can not lean to fly so I only can fly too three airports and two planes. I have a lot more freedom with FS

  • I do not like it at all. You have to do task ( fly threw targets with step angle of attack up or down. shoot at balloons and take photos ) in order to land at other airports. You start with one plane then there is a glider I can not lean to fly so I only can fly too three airports and two planes. I have a lot more freedom with FS

    Yeah, it's definitely more of a 'game' than a simulator like AeroFly. Just depends on what you like... You'll either love it or hate it ^^