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Inspiring
October 11, 2023
Solved

[UNRESOLVED as of May 30, 2024] - Quest 3 Controller Tracking Issues

update May 30, 2024: There have been no updates/improvements to controller tracking since Meta Support marked this as solved! Community consensus seems to be that this issue stems from hardware/software limitations with the controllers, specifically the method of tracking (as a software developer working specifically in the machine learning and computer vision space, I agree that this technology is not particularly robust enough to handle some types of movement). If you play games that require fast hand movements and/or dynamic hand positioning, I would recommend not buying a Quest 3, unfortunately. I've heard some anecdotes regarding improved tracking with the Quest Pro controllers, but the improvements are marginal at best - not worth the additional ~$300 for minimal performance gains IMO. My personal recommendation is to stick to Quest 2. Not to detract from the various improvements that the Quest 3 has brought (e.g., color passthrough w/higher resolution, better hand tracking, higher overall hardware specs compared to Quest 2, etc.), but Quest 2 controller tracking is significantly better than the Quest 3's. Ideally, my hope is that Meta will push an update that allows for pairing Quest 2 controllers with the Quest 3, but as of right now, that's just a pipe dream as Meta has given no indication of making these headsets/controllers backwards compatible. While I'm (naively) hopeful that things will change, realistically speaking, I have 0 expectations and a lot of disappointment.

 

tl;dr: I've had a Quest 2 for almost 3 years. I received my Quest 3 today and was very excited to use it. Controller tracking performance is much worse than the Quest 2, at least in the context of games where you swing your arms as fast as you can. This was not a problem for the Quest 2 (unless controllers were physically damaged, e.g., hitting a wall, dropping them, etc.). Don't buy if you play games like Gorilla Tag, Beat Saber, Synth Riders, or any of the other games mentioned throughout this thread!!!

 

Question:
Are there ways to modify the Quest 3's controller tracking such that fast hand movements won't be affected by the prediction-like behavior where the in-game hand moves farther than you swing? When I perform a baseball throwing movement with my hand/arm, the tracking will not keep up and it ends up losing my hand's position for a fraction of a second, causing my in-game hand to be positioned farther away than my hand actually is (this is not an issue with Quest 2 controller tracking).

 

Details/Context:
I primarily use VR for exercise, and I mostly play Gorilla Tag. Gorilla Tag is a game where you play as the upper half of a gorilla, using your arms as your means of locomotion. Basically, you use your arms as if they were your legs, and you can run, climb trees, wall-run, etc. It's an infection-based tagging game where you join a lobby of up to 9 other people, and the game will randomly select a player to be the first tagger. The tagger(s) will continue tagging until everyone in the lobby has been tagged (infection-style), and then a random player will be selected as first tagger; this pattern just continuously repeats.

While the learning curve is pretty steep to play at a high level, there is a growing community of players who are very competitive (approx. 10-20k players based on the communities I participate in - Competitive Gorilla Tag on Discord and Gorilla Tag Competitive on Discord). As a prominent member of this community, people have been seeking my feedback on whether or not the Quest 3 is worth it. While I feel that a majority of the new features are amazing, I have had issues with the controller tracking.

Gorilla Tag is an active game where you're constantly swinging your arms as fast as you can to travel around the map(s) to avoid being tagged. The primary player base for the game is Quest 2 users. Aside from physical damage, most players have not had any problems with controller tracking on the Quest 2, aside from when the controller goes out of the tracking range of the headset (as expected). 

However, the Quest 3 controllers lose tracking during medium-fast to fast hand movement (medium-fast: like playing catch with a friend; fast: throwing a baseball as hard as you can). The consequence of this in the context of Gorilla Tag is that your in-game arm extends to the game's max arm length frequently, causing your hand to collide with the wall/tree/ground and launch you away from the surface. This is a big issue for games/activities involving fast-paced hand movement as it's not nearly as reliable as the Quest 2 controller tracking performance. 

TheAntiSocializer
Honored Contributor
October 24, 2023

Hey everyone, I've connected with the team and they are actively investigating tracking issues like you've mentioned. We'll be working to improve performance, especially for competitive players in games like Gorilla Tag, Supernatural, IB Cricket, and Eleven Table Tennis. We expect to roll some of these improvements in the upcoming releases.

Sometimes it's okay to be a little Bing Chilling

531 replies

Participant
February 6, 2024

Are you frakking kidding me?!?!?

"Game On: Web-Based Games on Meta Quest

Meta Quest Browser now supports external gamepads, including PlayStation, Xbox, and many more. We’ve also enhanced Meta Quest support for gamepads to include PlayStation 5 DualSense Wireless Controllers and PlayStation 4 DualShock, giving you even more options for gaming in VR."

Meta can make game pads compatible to the Q3, but not the Q2 controllers?  Seriously... WTF Meta?!?!?!?!?

You people do not give a crap about your loyal customers that are struggling with your broken tracking during fast arm movement.

This is completely unacceptable!

Participant
February 9, 2024

Update: I tested Q3 in Eleven Table Tennis after updating to v62 - same isses as before.

Here is the quote from my last direct communication with Meta Support and here is what they said:

"...It looks like this is an issue one of our forum Mods had brought up to our engineering team. At this time, they're looking at possible fixes for this issue..."

Does it give me hope? Maybe. I have been using Q2 exclusevely for ETT now.  However, I did hear from a few players that v62 did fix their issues for them in ETT however it did not for me.

Participant
February 9, 2024

What adapter do you use because after I switched from amvr to solid slime any lingering issues I had are gone 100 percent

Up and Coming
February 9, 2024

I found by incident one thing with tracking. I use my quest 3 in same room at same position, so nothing in room is changed except lighting. Yesterday I play beat saber at day. No sun, not many clouds. I can do 95% precision and game feel PERFECT. At night I play same tracks but with artificial lights, one on ceiling and one directed to floor. Both are LED. Precision was TERRIBLE. I repeat same part of song 10 times at maximum slown down and I miss almost same notes. For full song 10-15 misses. Hit sounds generated with delay, so gameplay feel like playing in gel. I don't believe that my muscle memory changed during day!

 

Led lights blinking with frequency of energy network (50Hz for EU, 60Hz for USA). My ceiling LEDs are directly connected to 230V (in series), not by LED driver (Chinese do that kind of ceiling lights). They 100% must blink with 50Hz (I'm from EU). Maybe blinking LED interfere with IR lights in controllers or tracking cameras? 

 

You can check it by looking at some leds with passthrough. My mouse led backlight blinking/going black when I look at it and move/rotate head.

 

Is just theory and I'll repeat same test few times in next days. Today was rainy day, so I can't test it.

 

Guys, check your tracking in clear daylight to see if you have tracking issues.

Participant
February 9, 2024

I had this affect mine as well i use near infrared

lights while playing now

Up and Coming
February 10, 2024

Day 2 of test. Today is no sun, but not rainy or gray day. Same room, same place, position, same beat saber song, same profile (Quest Game optimizer), same me. Only lighting changed. Tracking = PERFECT!

Beat Saber is working different. Hard to explain. When I hit note I feel it and I hear sound at same time. At night (LED light) hit sound is slightly delayed or even not generated.

I start to believe that LED lights powered from power line (blinking with 50 or 60Hz frequency) interfere with Quest 3 tracking detection.

 

I'll try to buy IR flood light powered by good (stabilized) power adapter or batteries to test it more.

Up and Coming
February 10, 2024

If this really is the tracking problem (AC Hz), then does that mean it's fixable in software - or only new hardware? Can Meta tell us? (Answer: Yes they could. No they won't.)

Up and Coming
February 10, 2024

They fixed 6E WiFi problem by software update where many users believe it was hardware issue (short antenna/bad placement), so probalby it can be fixed too. Quest 3 have option to change 50Hz or 60Hz. I suppose is like sync "filter" for cameras frequency. I try Auto/50/60 - no effect.

 

Inspiring
February 11, 2024

I've just muted him.  Phew, it works! ðŸ˜Ž

 

Participant
February 13, 2024

The fact that Meta marked this thread as Solved is not helping I think. I did ask meta (in this thread) to mark it back as unsolved since it is not solved at all but to no avail.

Up and Coming
February 14, 2024

I bought Steam PC version of Beat Saber, modded to not use Steam VR (for better latency) and my problem GONE. No idea if it's game latency difference, processing power (PC > Quest 3), bad game optimisation of Quest version OR me. Hit registration difference is HUGE.

 

New Participant
February 18, 2024
The camera also lags when I move, but it works in games!

It's impossible to do anything in the pass-through, that's how annoying it is.

When will it finally be repaired???
Participant
February 25, 2024
I am pretty sure my tracking issue with q3 is resolved. What changed since things didn’t work well for me:
 
1) v62 update - I have heard lots of good feedback re: tracking for this update but was wondering why it did not help me initially… which brings me to point 2) 
2) changed the adapter that has the face of controller face headset more at the end of my loops (deep top left of my face)
 
Looks like in my case technique and pre v62 firmware were creating the issue with tracking conjointly.
 
This of course would not have happened if q3 controller didn’t lose the ring. I still do get occasional tracking loss but it is not interfering with overall experience with q3 for me anymore.
 
I have had around 5 sessions on q3 now: day light, night time with led lighting, infrared llighting, indoors, outdoors etc. the experience has been much more stable so far. Very promising! 

 

New Participant
March 1, 2024

Facing the same issues with Beat Saber...  

Up and Coming
March 1, 2024

Go for PCVR version of Beat Saber. I switch from standalone and my progress skyrocket.

It feels different. Look at my beatleader profile. I switched about 26 days ago and fun begin.

https://beatleader.xyz/u/76561198821464641/beatleader/date/desc/1