Can VR Full Immersion Be Achieved?

The whole point of virtual reality (VR) is to completely transport the user to another world, but that goal has been elusive, and we’ve only been able to achieve partial immersion. Still, there’ve been multiple technological breakthroughs in the last few years, and it’s possible that the era of full VR immersion is with us.

VR immersion can be fully achieved through state-of-the-art technology in haptics, brain-computer interfaces, and vision. Using existing tech, virtual reality experiences can be virtually indistinguishable from the real world, leading to full VR immersion.

In this article, I’ll explore recent technological developments that potentially make full immersion possible, from Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) technology to advanced haptics capabilities. While we are far from ubiquitous and commercially-viable full VR immersion solutions, we’ve gotten surprisingly close to full immersion, as I’ll show below.

Is Full Immersion VR Possible?

Full VR immersion is where a VR experience is virtually indistinguishable from reality.

Full immersion VR is possible. By simultaneously catering to multiple senses, including sight, sound, and touch, current technology can completely transfer the user to another world and create an illusion that’s difficult to distinguish from reality.

Can VR full immersion be achieved?

Usually, when people ask this question, they get this answer: Maybe in the future. But full immersion is already with us, at least in some forms.

Full Immersion Can Be Achieved By Mimicking Experiences

Products can fully immerse a user in a virtual experience by mimicking multiple aspects of the real experience. For example, instead of being a Formula One driver, you can use a racing simulator that replicates the experience all the way to the feeling of being pushed back against the car seat when a car accelerates.

The following aspects make such a setup fully immersive:

The simulator controls, including a steering wheel and pedals, make it feel like you’re in a real car.
The wide screen and ultra-high-definition visuals completely capture your attention.
The high-quality audio effects accurately replicate the sound on a race track.

The goal is to convince the brain that something is happening. So virtual reality isn’t about using VR headsets. It’s about using multiple tools to build an illusion, and VR glasses are just one such tool.

Think of it this way: If you were in a room and you heard the distinctive roar of a lion outside the door, no one could convince you to come out. All it would take to create such an illusion is the playback of a realistic audio of a lion’s roar.

As far as using tools to service immersive VR illusions goes, multiple commercialized applications already exist, including the following:

A fully-immersive VR 4D Skydive experience. After wearing a VR helmet and a special jumpsuit, users can skydive in a virtual California sky without jumping from a real plane in California. The experience is made even more realistic by a wind tunnel with wind speeds of up to 180 mph.
Virtual mountain biking. With the help of VR headsets and an indoor bike that adjusts in real-time to reflect movement on a virtual terrain, you can bike multiple sites across the world from the comfort of your home.

Below is a YouTube video showing how immersive virtual mountain biking works:

Even without “fancy” technology, humans have been achieving full immersion into virtual experiences. For example, you can be so immersed in an action movie that you don’t notice someone enter a room. In a sense, if you can capture a person’s full attention through a mobile device or television, you’ve immersed them into a virtual world.

That said, recent technology has given us new “fancy” tools to use in the service of illusions, making it even easier to achieve full VR immersion.

Current Technologies That Make VR Full Immersion Possible

VR Headsets

When anyone mentions virtual reality, VR headsets come to mind. One of the reasons they’re synonymous with the VR field is that they’ve been around for years. During this time, they’ve become relatively affordable. For around $350, you can get a decent VR headset like the Meta Quest 2.

Moreover, these headsets have evolved to maximize visual immersion with features such as:

Stunning 4K OLED visuals. Foveated rendering powered by eye-tracking technology enables incredibly high-definition fidelity.
Eye-tracking technology capable of conveying your emotions through your digital avatar, which makes interaction in virtual worlds more life-like.

But the latest VR headsets go multiple steps further. For example, they have 3D Audio that reflects events in a virtual world. While playing a game, you can track another player’s position with their footsteps, making the game that much more realistic and immersive.

Advanced Haptics

Haptics is a field of technology that aims to replicate touch. In the past decade, haptic technology has made significant strides.

One of the most striking examples is a skin-like technology that can simulate the touch of a loved one over a video call or a congratulatory pat on the back by a teammate in an online game. Epidermal VR, as the technology is called, is minimally invasive and wearable on the skin.

While such technology hasn’t been commercialized yet, it’s extremely promising, and we’ll soon have full-body suits capable of accurately transmitting touch to any body part.

Meanwhile, we’re already enjoying other forms of haptic feedback in VR worlds.

As early as 2017, we had the technology to replicate atmospheric conditions like heat and wind. So, it’s currently possible to walk through a virtual desert and feel heat from a device at the back of your neck and then feel cold when the virtual scene changes to a mountain top.

360-Degree Treadmills

One of the biggest obstacles to successful immersion in VR is limited movement. Until recently, the illusion of movement in virtual worlds like games was created by a moving avatar that responded to the user’s commands. This approach has been working well enough, but technology has taken us a massive step further.

Thanks to technology like the Virtuix Omni, you can now physically move while interacting with a virtual world. It’s like running on a treadmill: your body stays in the same place, but in every other sense, you’re running.

The Virtuix Omni is an advanced treadmill that allows you to make movements like crouching, running, walking, and backing up. While these movements are reflected in the virtual world you are in, your real body doesn’t change position.

The result is that playing a sword-fighting game ends up being a real workout because you’ll be doing a lot of lunging and swinging.

When you couple technology like the Virtuix Omni with a top-notch VR headset, it’s impossible not to be fully immersed.

Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCI)

What technology can currently do is in the magical realm. BCI is a field of technology dedicated to enabling communication directly between a brain and a computer. This is achieved by reading the electrical signals produced by the brain.

With BCI, instead of swiping on a screen to show the next item, all you have to do is merely think of swiping. The thought produces electrical activity, which is captured and transmitted to the computer, resulting in the intended consequence. As a result, you can control computers with mental intent.

It sounds unbelievable, yet it’s already been done.

In 2018, CTRL-Labs, which has since been acquired by Meta (Facebook), demonstrated a wristband that allowed users to type by tapping on a tabletop. The technology worked even if the users didn’t actually type and only thought of typing.

When people think of BCI, they think of the invasive version, where a chip is surgically implanted into your brain. But it’s possible to wear a wristband and enjoy the magic of BCI.

The ramifications of this are huge. User interfaces like gaming pads don’t aid the illusion of a VR world. Instead, they remind you of the real world. Removing pads out of the picture in favor of interfaces like the CTRL-Labs wristband makes the illusion of a VR world more continuous and more immersive.

Simulating Smell and Taste

Of all the human senses, smell and taste are the most difficult to simulate, yet doing it successfully would significantly boost immersion in virtual reality worlds.

As difficult as it is, technology has already given us smell and taste simulators.

In 2016, researchers in Singapore were using temperature changes to mimic the sensation of sweetness on the tongue. They had also developed an electrical spoon that amplified the flavor of the food it was used to eat. For example, it could make food with just a little salt taste quite salty.

Additionally, OVR technology has developed a scent technology that can mimic a wide range of odors, including garbage, diesel fuel, and gunpowder. The technology is currently in use in detox clinics to facilitate addiction recovery.

Thanks to the technology, you can bring a rose to your nose in a virtual world and feel the sweet scent of a rose, only to have the scent disappear once you pull back the virtual rose from your virtual nose.

Conclusion

Full VR immersion is achievable. It’s all about using the tools at our disposal in the service of a VR illusion. Thanks to technological advances in a range of fields, we have all the tools we need to transport users to virtual realities in experiences that the brain can’t distinguish from reality.

Different tools exist, and all that’s left is to bring them all together to create the ultimate VR immersion experience.