10-10-2023 08:03 PM - last edited on 08-07-2024 11:03 AM by NolaBaby
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.
Solved! Go to Solution.
01-17-2024 12:19 PM
Yes. Since there is no answer at all to more than one of my requests, I hope other forum participants will support me and begin to write real problems with the helmet in their reviews, that there is a problem with tracking controllers that is not being solved in any way and is not commented on by the company.
I suggest leaving reviews in all stores where you can buy Quest 3, so that people understand what problems they can expect and do not buy it
01-17-2024 12:55 PM
Hey there, @JeffG01, @Javerian17, and other users! We know how much controller tracking directly contributes to your gameplay, so we'd love to look into this issue for you. To start with, let's make sure we have a good idea of this particular problem. Please clarify the following information when you get a chance:
01-17-2024 01:08 PM - edited 01-17-2024 01:10 PM
@MetaQuestSupport All of those questions have been asked and answered countless times already. It feels a bit like you're trying to divert the issue away from an inability to respond to an unfixable hardware problem, to 'oh we didn't realise anyone had been complaining'
01-17-2024 01:10 PM
May be it would make difference if we all post to Meta’s social media tagging this thread?
01-17-2024 01:15 PM
I think that would just be helping them out, they're doing the real damage themselves, because everybody who buys one is just going to be stuck with a bad experience, leading them to never purchase from Meta again, or they'll be returning for refunds.
Although they probably don't care, VR is probably a drop of water in the ocean to them.
01-17-2024 01:28 PM
Thank you for reaching out. Answers to your questions:
01-17-2024 01:38 PM
To answer your questions:
No. We also tried a few different areas and different time of day/lighting. None of them make any improvements. Switching back to Quest2 would work flawlessly.
Yes (as above)
Not really. We noticed the tracking is not quite as good on day 1. We thought it takes time to get used to it/adjust but it's not the case. And then we notice one of the hand would "stuck" randomly and quiet frequently when play Beat Saber.
No, all standard.
Left hand Only for stuck issue. But overall tracking seems not as accurate.
When playing Beat Saber, it seems when there is fast to medium speed movement only. Note: Not everyone in the family can reproduce it, but some members can reproduce it very frequently (like once every song or two)
This + less accurate tracking makes the game pretty much unplayable
01-17-2024 01:47 PM - edited 01-17-2024 01:47 PM
I have received my q3 replacement but away from home right now so can only test it from Sunday onwards.
For those new to this thread I am one of the original posters with my issue documented in a series of YouTube videos such as https://youtu.be/LHAuSptWOnU?si=SYvEUtETTQtOFf_E
Once I test a new q3 set I will report my findings here.
01-18-2024 05:12 PM
i already published the information in all VR groups that I know. Hope people know that this is a badly designed buggy product.
01-19-2024 11:48 PM
I have tested the replacement q3 in Eleven Table Tennis (and home environment) and, unfortunately, it has the same issue - tracking loss after fast motion and sudden stop.
The issue is observed with and without the adapter in home environment as well as in Eleven Table Tennis game with hand and body tracking off and on.
https://youtu.be/AxsYLpuPOxY?si=hEI3-Q-j84byEsdP
Looks like it is a dead end for me with Quest 3 and Eleven table tennis.
Interesting thing is that in a recent ETT event held in Düsseldorf where best ETT players competed in the same table tennis hall, almost ALL competitors used Quest 2 (https://www.youtube.com/live/wftS-TIkALs?si=GnGc5x1lU2xEfV0d)
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