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RuneSR2
Honored Contributor
July 15, 2021
Question

Kayak VR: Mirage - never has VR kayaking looked so good! Native Oculus drivers are supported!

Might be more of a kayaking simulator and looks jaw-droppingly good:

 

 

This looks like one of my favorite kind of apps - where you try to recreate the real thing as good as you can with current gpus in VR. The app/game/sim isn't out before March 2022, and you can expect system requirements to be extremely high - right now devs expect:

 

RECOMMENDED:

  • OS: Windows 10
  • Processor: Ryzen 3600 / Intel i7 9600K
  • Memory: 16 GB RAM
  • Graphics: Nvidia Geforce 2080
  • DirectX: Version 11
  • Storage: 10 GB available space

DLSS will be supported for RTX gpus, thus this is truly high-end PCVR. More info here:

 

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1683340/Kayak_VR_Mirage/

 

https://www.vrfocus.com/2021/07/kayak-vr-look-stunning-in-early-gameplay-footage/

 

Some shots:

 

 

Note that for those who want to enjoy VR kayaking today, there're several great options:

 

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1004510/DownStream_VR_Whitewater_Kayaking/ (55% off right now)

 

https://www.oculus.com/experiences/rift/1766848360109262/?locale=en_US 

 

https://www.oculus.com/experiences/rift/1208507739163035/?locale=en_US

https://store.steampowered.com/app/407710/The_Grand_Canyon_VR_Experience/

 

Note that The Grand Canyon VR Experience has gotten mixed ratings, but I'm quite fond of that app. It looks great - and at least for the CV1 ss 2.0 using Ultra settings, you may need at least a 2080 (Ti) for solid 90 fps in the Grand Canyon app. Some shots:

 

   

33 replies

RuneSR2
RuneSR2Author
Honored Contributor
May 14, 2023

After searching for quite some time I finally found the dolphins! After I found them, they followed my kayak for quite some time, it was a great experience. 

 

There were like 5-6 dolphins. Sure this is VR, but it felt quite real to me πŸ™‚ Btw, also got a close encounter with a snake in Australia:

 

Kayak VR is more a sim than a game - and as a sim, it's simply the best kayak sim in VR. 

Oculus Rift CV1, Valve Index & PSVR2, Asus Strix OC RTXβ„’ 3090, i9-10900K (5.3Ghz), 32GB 3200MHz, 16TB SSD "Ask not what VR can do for you, but what you can do for VR"
AliceinVRworld
Honored Contributor
May 14, 2023

So cool!!! I love going through these threads and seeing more pictures of what is within a game!

 

We are all mad here.
RuneSR2
RuneSR2Author
Honored Contributor
November 27, 2023

Merry Christmas to everyone, well it's less than a month to Christmas now - and there's a free Christmas update from the devs:

 

Oculus Rift CV1, Valve Index & PSVR2, Asus Strix OC RTXβ„’ 3090, i9-10900K (5.3Ghz), 32GB 3200MHz, 16TB SSD "Ask not what VR can do for you, but what you can do for VR"
HiroProtag0nist
Honored Contributor
December 24, 2023

Ah, I was 4 weeks late - hadn't looked at the recent posts lol

This really is a magical little course.

Big PC, all the headsets, now using Quest 3
Inspiring
November 27, 2023

This is so great on Quest 3 and Quest Pro using Remote Desktop, streaming it via PCVR (Steam VR)

JohSm
Honored Contributor
November 27, 2023

JohSm67 wrote:

This is so great on Quest 3 and Quest Pro using Remote Desktop, streaming it via PCVR (Steam VR)


Why use Remote Desktop instead of Air Link?  Just asking because I haven't tried Remote Desktop yet,  Thanks mate.

i9 13900K water cooled, RTX4090, Z790 MB w/wifi6e, 64Gb 6400 ram, 2x2TB SSD, 1000W PSU, Win 11, QPro, Q3, w/Link and Air Link, Vive Pro1 with 2x2.0 base stations, Etsy lens mod and Index Controllers
Inspiring
November 27, 2023

Maybe simply because i had it for a long time and it works great with Steam VR, Rift titles , Videos & Movies, Windows and Mac and it has a ton of options to tweek if you want to do that πŸ˜‰

Don’t remember why i dropped AirLink….

JohSm
HiroProtag0nist
Honored Contributor
December 24, 2023

I know I'm a couple of years behind but just bought this and wow, it's incredible.  I've seem to be buying the great-looking games recently because of the Quest 3 and new network set-up I have knowing that Link won't let me down.

Make sure you go on the Australia course - there's a Christmas special.

Big PC, all the headsets, now using Quest 3
RuneSR2
RuneSR2Author
Honored Contributor
June 14, 2024

A new level just arrived as DLC, and it's totally awesome - the biggest level/location in the game so far:

 

Find it here: 

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2926750/Kayak_VR_Mirage__Soa_Valley_including_whitewater/

I took a few shots:

Kinda Better Than Life (that's what the devs call themselves πŸ™‚ You got arms now

 

Love visiting nature in my man cave πŸ™‚

 

I like my new hat... Well... 

 

Close encounter

 

     

Oculus Rift CV1, Valve Index & PSVR2, Asus Strix OC RTXβ„’ 3090, i9-10900K (5.3Ghz), 32GB 3200MHz, 16TB SSD "Ask not what VR can do for you, but what you can do for VR"
HiroProtag0nist
Honored Contributor
June 14, 2024

Yeah, saw the video, need to go and get this.  This is an incredible game.  I play with 2 dining room chairs - sit on one, the other a couple of feet in front of me - I stick the lower half of my legs on there so it feels like I'm in my canoe πŸ˜

Big PC, all the headsets, now using Quest 3
TheeScientist
Honored Contributor
June 20, 2024

The views in this game are absolutely stunning. The quality is truly impressive! 

Don't worry be happy.
June 24, 2025

RuneSR2  are you getting the new Yucatan DLC?

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3437140

RuneSR2
RuneSR2Author
Honored Contributor
June 26, 2025

I was just visiting to post the trailer, good to see you've already did that πŸ™‚ 

I posted the trailer in the Index forum a few days ago:

https://www.reddit.com/r/ValveIndex/comments/1ljgpvy/kayak_vr_yucat%C3%A1n_dlc_launch_trailer_now_on_steam/

Personally, Kayak VR is one of my favorite VR experiences of all, but just not the recent Yucatan level. 

My Steam review is here:

https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197970329732/recommended/3437140/

"I just completed the level. It's very dark and mostly tunnels, not much space to navigate. Whitewater in small tunnels is more frustrating than fun. Whitewater VR: Extreme Kayaking Adventure is much better for experiencing whitewater. Considering that Kayak VR: Mirage is one of my favorite VR experiences of all, this does say much about this YucatΓ‘n level, sadly.
I personally love Kayak VR for the awesome nature experiences and scenic vistas, unfortunately there's close to nothing of that in this level.
The tunnels feel nearly too dark for the Index, I wonder if devs calibrated the lighting mainly for the oled PSVR2 and the PS5 version of the game.
To me the YucatΓ‘n level is the weakest of all, and it feels rushed. The tour kept me going in circles, clearly needs more testing.
Then again, if you love caves and tight spaces then you may enjoy this level a lot more than I did.
Also on the positive side, the level does provide some variation to the game.
My rating is about 6/10, while I'd happily rate the other levels from 8/10 to 10/10."

In short, for those wanting whitewater - I'd go here instead:

 

I still plan to keep the Yucatan level, but mostly to support the devs. 2c.

Btw, with a patch, devs have removed the native Oculus driver support, which is very saddening. My son was using those drivers to start the game with the Rift CV1. The game now only supports SteamVR, not even OpenXR. This causes a massive performance reduction for Meta users. Since I have paid for the game, and never accepted the removal of native Oculus drivers, I tried to go looking for an older unpatched version in very dark places, but found it, and now my son can play using the CV1 again. But extremely annoying that devs took a hammer to a perfectly working Oculus supported game. 

I have complained about this here - and some dude offered a workaround, but it seems cumbersome:

https://steamcommunity.com/app/1683340/discussions/0/604144173313963262/

Of course some Meta users may just think that the game is now very demanding due to the great graphics, and may never know how much better the game performed with native Oculus drivers. 

Oculus Rift CV1, Valve Index & PSVR2, Asus Strix OC RTXβ„’ 3090, i9-10900K (5.3Ghz), 32GB 3200MHz, 16TB SSD "Ask not what VR can do for you, but what you can do for VR"