Playstation VR2 on PC: Developers unlock PS5-exclusive features
Playstation VR2 on PC now supports eye-tracking, adaptive triggers and 10-bit color rendering through an open-source mod of the official drivers.
Developers bring functions for the PC connection of PSVR 2 that Sony itself did without
(Image: Sony)
The “Playstation VR2 Toolkit” released yesterday brings PC support for eye tracking, 10-bit color depth, adaptive triggers, and improved tracking prediction of the PS VR2 Sense Controller. The latter offers an advantage in responsive VR games such as “Beat Saber.”
The toolkit significantly enhances the PlayStation VR2: PC headsets with eye-tracking usually cost well over 1000 euros, while the PlayStation VR2 including PC adapter is already available for under 500 euros.
However, there is a catch: in order for SteamVR apps to support eye-tracking and adaptive triggers, they must first be implemented by the app developers via proprietary interfaces. Eye tracking is currently supported in the popular Metaverse app VRChat. To achieve this, users must install a separately available file in addition to the driver mod.
Further improvements planned for Playstation VR2
For the future, the three-person development team is planning further tracking improvements, higher-quality haptic effects for the Sense controllers, and support for OpenXR-based eye tracking, reveals lead developer "whatdahooper" in an interview with heise online. The latter could enable dynamic foveated rendering in PC VR games such as Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 in the future. The team is also working on unlocking the headset haptics but has not yet found a solution for this.
Videos by heise
The toolkit is a modification of Sony's official SteamVR drivers. During installation, a DLL file is renamed and replaced with the DLL version of the toolkit. The developers point out that the 10-bit color depth does not work on newer AMD GPUs. This is due to a problem on the AMD side that is beyond the control of the toolkit developers.
The Playstation VR2 Toolkit is available on Github and is open-source, except the eye-tracking calibration.
Many PS5 features are missing on the PC by default
Playstation VR2 has offered SteamVR compatibility since the beginning of August 2024. A separately available official PC adapter, the Playstation VR2 app on Steam, a DisplayPort 1.4 cable, and a compatible Bluetooth adapter are required for the PC connection if the PC does not already have integrated Bluetooth.
Sony did not include a number of important PS5 features in the PC connection, including eye-tracking, HDR, adaptive triggers, and headset haptics. With the “PS VR2 Toolkit,” some of these functions are now available for the PC.
Incidentally, the toolkit does not provide HDR support like on the PS5. The additional luminance required for this is missing from the PC connection, as there is no corresponding driver support from SteamVR.
(afl)
