Virtual actuality is fairly dang cool, whatever Gordon says, however it may be actually costly to get into. Take the PS5’s VR add-on, the PlayStation VR2. At $550, it’s dearer than the console itself…and yeah, it solely works with the PS5. So, it’s no shock that tinkerers have been attempting to see if it may double as a PC gaming headset identical to the Meta Quest 2. Good information: Yes, it may! Bad information: It wants some additional {hardware} to make the connection. Worse information: That {hardware} doesn’t truly exist but.

iVRy, the developer who created the device that permits the unique PSVR headset to work with SteamVR on a Windows PC, has been engaged on this downside for months (as documented by WCCFTech). Sony hasn’t put in any main software program blocks, so it ought to be attainable, however the system depends on very particular {hardware} with a purpose to work, together with DisplayPort 1.4 and Display Stream Compression 1.1. That means it’ll solely work with graphics playing cards from the previous few years, an Nvidia RTX 20 collection or AMD 5000 collection, or newer.

The system additionally requires a small bit of additional {hardware} that iVRy calls a “man in the middle” as a result of the DisplayPort AUX channel is used on the PS5 for plenty of show info. A PC wants that data from a unique supply, greatest achieved by a customized driver. To get the proof of idea up and working, iVRy used a Linux PC in between with monitoring {hardware} from the unique PSVR. It’s attainable that this might be finished with out extra {hardware} on a Linux machine with an AMD GPU, however even that looks like a protracted shot in the mean time.

For a extra common resolution, they’ll have to design and construct a customized adapter. And then discover a producer that wishes to mass-produce it. Given the very small area of interest of customers who wish to use a PSVR2 on a PC, and the truth that Sony might basically brick it at any time (even by accident) with a software program replace, it might be a difficult pitch to make.