A taste of VR on the cheap
A world of 360-degree videos for you to explore awaits you on YouTube – from a 360-degree look inside the Large Hadron Collider to riding a roller coaster to a front-row seat at a comedy club.
Grab your phone and your Google Cardboard viewer, and join us as we look at some of the coolest 360-degree videos YouTube has to offer.
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Getting started
For best results, you'll want to get yourself a Google Cardboard viewer – or one of the myriad Cardboard-compatible viewers that are available. Once you've got your viewer, download the Google Cardboard app for iOS or Android.
Open the app to set up your viewer, and you'll be good to go from there. Tap the 360 Video Channel in the Cardboard app, or open your YouTube app and start searching.
You'll need to tap the Cardboard button in the lower right corner of each 360-degree video you view in order for it to look right in your Cardboard viewer.
Ride a roller coaster from your couch
I don't know what I like more about this 360-degree view from a roller coaster at Seoul Grand Park in South Korea: the wild ride of the coaster itself or the reactions of the passengers as they wind their way around.
The view from the top of the coaster is pretty incredible, too.
Look inside the Large Hadron Collider
The Large Hadron collider is one massive science project. It's the largest particle collider in the world, but that fact alone doesn't quite give you an idea of the collider's massive scale.
This thing is huge, and this VR video from the BBC only begins to give you a sense of the project's enormity.
A virtual-reality anatomy lesson
These 360-degree videos arent' just for cheap thrills – they can actually teach you a thing or two. Case in point, check out this VR exploration of various functions of the human body.
Now, imagine a future in which schools use virtual reality to teach kids certain concepts. It might be enough to make you wish you were back in school.
Pac-Man in 360 degrees
Pac-Man has always been a 2D affair (well, at least what we'll recognize): you move flat sprites around a flat maze, and you view it on a flat screen.
But, this video puts you inside a game as you get chased around by ghosts. It isn't playable, but imagine how cool it would be if it were.
Fly along in a fighter jet
Have you ever wondered what it'd be like to fly in a fighter jet? This cool, 360-degree view from Blick takes you on a flight with the Patrouille Suisse – the Swiss equivalent of the Blue Angels in the United States – as they fly in formation over the Alps.
It's well worth the nearly four and a half minutes of your time.
Time Couch
We've covered how 360-degree videos can be used to share an experience, teach you something, or let you get inside a game, but Time Couch shows how the tech can be used as a cinematic storytelling medium.
This short demo is only about a minute and a half long, but it's a fun clip that I had to watch more than once.