I’m at K1 Speed in Gardena, California, and I’m sitting down in one of their karts on a real-world track.
I just drove 125 miles to see this at 70 or so miles per hour most of the way, but in my nervousness now sitting on a real-world race track, low to the ground in the open air with one foot on each side of the vehicle, it feels like my years of regular driving experience barely translate. I also feel safe, though, because I know I won’t be going too fast.
The kart features a temporary rigging to attach a computer and Oculus Rift. The speed of the kart can be remotely adjusted by the system Master of Shapes is demonstrating. As part of this rigging there are lights effectively broadcasting the kart’s position to cameras spread overhead spanning the length of the winding track. There’s even a button on the wheel that could ultimately deliver one of the world’s first mixed reality versions of something like Mario Kart.
Sure, it is amazing to wear a VR headset so you can sit in Mushroom Kingdom while in a real-world motion simulator. That’s a different caliber of experience, though, from one which moves the body 1:1 in an accurate feedback loop with how hard the pedals are pushed and how much the wheel is turned. It is similar to the “mixed reality” experience we saw in the Oculus Arena at the most recent Oculus Connect VR developer’s conference, which incorporated real-world mapping. Except this time I’m hurtling through real space in a vehicle under my control.
Which brings me back to that button on the wheel — the one that “could ultimately deliver one of the world’s first mixed reality versions of something like Mario Kart.” Representatives from Master of Shapes told me not to push the button. They were explicit about it. The button was intended entirely for development purposes at the point I sat in the kart. In retrospect, it should have been removed prior to me getting into the vehicle.
One day there could be races here at K1 where a kid too young to drive a kart on their own could grab a gamepad and log into the same race as their elder sibling out on the actual “speedway.” One day that button on the wheel could launch a virtual weapon to slow down another player’s kart. One day all of that could happen. Today is not that day. I’m not supposed to touch that button. I don’t intend to touch that button.
Here’s what happened when I got started:
Not long after this video ends there’s a hard left turn and, in my growing confidence, I turn the wheel hard while going fast. I should remind you again they told me not to push the button. In fact, they even warned me what would happen if I did. The virtual world would rotate 90 degrees off the outline of its real-world counterpart.
“Oh ok,” I thought at the time. “Don’t touch the button. Now let me drive this thing.”
Hurtling around that corner with a blindfold on I must’ve hit the button. I think that’s what happened because the world suddenly rotated 90 degrees. In my panic, I forgot which foot to use to brake the kart because I was far too accustomed to driving with one foot switching between pedals.
In front of my eyes now, directly ahead, was the railing of the virtual track.
I knew a crash was inevitable. I braced and hoped for the best. There were a few seconds of reprieve and then BAM!
I was fine. I took the Rift off and laughed. They told me how to put the kart in reverse and we wheeled it back to the starting line for a reset. The second time, I went slow for the first lap and then really pressed the pedal down for the second one. It all worked fine as I came back to where I started in the real world.
Tagged with: Master of Shapes
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