Here’s how to play full-on PC games with your smartphone VR headset

At the moment playing VR games on a PC is pricey, but the Zeiss VR One Connect and SteamVR aims to fix that.

While VR headsets for your PC will set you back about £500, there is now a way to game in VR at high quality without that expense. You can use your own smartphone and VR headset to play high-end VR games made for PC.

The Zeiss VR One Connect is a system that works with SteamVR to make sure a PC does all the hard work while a connected smartphone VR headset plays out the gaming result. You’ll need to connect that phone to the PC, via an included USB cable, then you’re good to go. The phone connects to hand movement detecting controllers via Bluetooth and uses the phone’s motion sensors to let you look around while gaming.

While this system can be sold with the dedicated VR One Connect headset for $99 (£75) it is possible to use your own VR headset if your phone already has one. Although this likely won’t work with Gear VR since that requires the phone’s USB port to be plugged in already.

Bare in mind, Oculus is rumoured to be releasing a more affordable wireless headset that doesn’t require a smartphone. There are also mixed reality headsets on their way soon. That said they’re both still more expensive than this option, even if the Zeiss does mean you can’t move about in the room due to a lack of spacial sensors.

The Zeiss VR One Connect app will be out later in the year priced at $129 (£100) or with the Zeiss VR One Connect headset included $199 (£153).

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