Attraction Source Forum

I hope they wait a month and use the new S8 phones and new GearVR headsets.

That being said the rumoured hearty cost increase may mean they steer clear, although fingers crossed they don't!

I think that's fairly unlikely Owen. From what I understand, Alton Towers wants to have the VR operating as much as possible so they'd avoid complaints from guests who wish to experience the VR but can't for whatever reason (e.g multiple headsets being down). Although better phones and headsets would be nice, I don't think Towers will be making any changes this late on (or they'd at least try to get some more value out of the current headsets).

New headsets would also explain the lack of VR on Galactica on Services Days and the various events hosted before opening day.

What I mean is I hope that they change new headsets next month as opposed to the start of season (what I mean by hold off). It's unlikely yes, but it would certainly be a welcome change!

As much as I would also like to see the newest phones as part of the Galactica VR it's unlikely to be the S8. They would have to be fully tested and they wouldn't want to do that whilst the ride is 'live'. As someone who works for a large corporation I know how much testing is required for something like this. You can't just roll something out on a whim like you would at home.

Realistically the phones used for VR are only going to last 1 season, 2 seasons at most so I would expect to see the S8 or the Pixel in place for next year.

Just want to clarify this is very much just a 'hope' for me and it's by no means a serious thing. Although I believe the last headsets were switched out fir newer phones last year so we will have to wait and see.

Galactica was operating without VR today. I've never seen dispatches that quick since the days of Air

The headsets are Pico and have already been installed. I suppose they have a few things to sort, but it will be good to get the VR back!

I see this as an improvement as a VR user phone VR is leagues behind actual VR platforms so this is only a good thing IMO

Apparently Staff were telling people today that Galactica is getting new VR headsets, HTC Vive please if not the newer Gear VR's will be ok...

Vive, unfortunately, would never work on Galactica due to it using motion sensors instead of a gyroscope as the Samsung Gear did

Bert2theSpark wrote:Apparently Staff were telling people today that Galactica is getting new VR headsets, HTC Vive please if not the newer Gear VR's will be ok...

If you actually read the forum, literally 2 posts up you'll see that this has already been pointed out and they are Pico, not Vive.

Whilst it would be nice to see Galactica use the Vive, it probably wouldn't happen as each headset would need to be wired to its own computer, making the train heavier

As Justin posted only a few posts up. The headsets are wireless Pico headsets that'll offer a similar experience to the Gear VR.

Any ideas as to when were likely to be seeing the new headsets? i don't understand why were now into the new season and yet rides like this are still undergoing maintenance. they've had since november to make adjustments and upgrades?

It would appear that there's a little more to the update than just new headsets...

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Maybe the added surprise is that it might actually work?

I would say it's a new sequence, but I think the chances of it actually being are very, very slim (since Galactica wasn't commercially successful last year they wouldn't spend more on new sequences).
Possibly better headphones or higher resolution phones?

How much does a sequence take to produce?

Maybe some of the other planets on the departure boards will be visited

Is it common / easy to ride without the headset? Jnr's first visit on Friday and I want her to ride Air first

Well at this rate it may not even be running with VR! :lol However, so long as you tell the ride host you'd prefer to ride without the VR they'll be happy to let you ride normally.