Introduction
Rollercoasters have been part of gaming's heritage since the earliest days, back as far as 1983's 3D Crazy Coasters on the Vectrex. But VR's inherent sense of presence makes the managed terror of roller coasters all the more impressive. It also has the added, uh, 'bonus' of sometimes inducing exactly the kind of sickness that you get from a really impressive rollercoaster (try 'Cyber Space' below for the full effect.)
Obviously, the dream would be for Frontier's upcoming Planet Coaster to support VR, like their Elite Dangerous did. Yet, from the early preview code we've seen, Planet Coaster is throwing a *lot* of polygons around - and the whispers at that it won't be able to stay that pretty and hit the 90fps that makes for comfortable VR viewing. (Which is going to be a huge problem with Playstation VR too, but we're guessing that they'll just focus on keeping poly counts low, taking its graphics back to the PS3 era…)
Cosmic Roller Coaster
Google Cardboard / Android
This VR coaster has you riding through the Solar System, listening to the music of the spheres (which appears to be mainly electronica.) You fly close into Saturn and through its rings, passing close past a space station and each of its planets. Then you pass a mammoth star ship and flyby a warp gate, triggering yet more trippy effects, before returning to a very ocean-lite Earth (where you can listen into its radio signals. It's all a bit 2001: A Space Odyssey.
