1Your VR headset isn’t just for gaming
If you’ve bought a VR headset such as the Oculus Rift, HTC Vive or PlayStation VR, you’ve likely got your hands on a few VR games. What you may not know is that you can also watch 360° videos on YouTube.
Watch one of many 360° rollercoaster VR videos, for example, and you’ll be able to experience the stomach-churning joys of riding a rollercoaster through your headset, gazing up, down and all around you in utter terror. All you need to do is to don your headset, launch YouTube (choosing the VR version of the app if you’re prompted) and away you go.
Here are seven 360° videos that are well worth experiencing. You can view these in ordinary 2D but believe us, you’ll be missing out. There’s a lot more to explore but, as a start, these will help you get your money’s worth out of your headset.
2What You’d See When Falling Into or Orbiting Black Holes
A video that demonstrates how the pull of a black hole would distort the space around it. Superb if faintly disturbing stuff.
3The People’s House – Inside the White House with Barack and Michelle Obama
A virtual tour of the White House, narrated and presented by the former U.S. President and former First Lady. The narration really helps puts things in context and while you won’t see any other world leaders in the video, it gives you a sense of how the White House functions.
4Take a Virtual Reality Tour of Six Real Exoplanets
Another space-themed video, this explores six planets outside our own solar system; you’re even given a (virtual) probe’s eye view from the surface of these planets.
5New York City 8K
A fourteen minute video of New York’s streets, filmed from the hood of a car. It’s tempting to keep your eyes on the road but observing NY’s citizens as they go about their business is just as entertaining.
6The Blu: Whale Encounter
This video may be computer generated, rather than filmed, but observing a Blue Whale pass you by as you swim above the deck of a sunken ship is still impressive.
7Journey To The Edge Of Space
If you get vertigo, then this might not be the video for you. Follow a camera attached to a weather balloon as it floats upwards towards the edge of the atmosphere.
8VR 360 Roller Coaster Ride
Another computer-generated video, this virtual roller coaster doesn’t need to climb to built up momentum and, as a result, you’re in for a wild and potentially disorientating ride.
