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

[NotDream]

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. 

[jajabor]

Same issue in IB cricket, hope the fix is an update away.

[FlipperPA]

Beat Saber was missing all kinds of notes for me on my Quest 3, what a disappointment. I may have to return it and revert to my Quest 2, as exercise is 90% of what I do as well. Very very disappointing. I'm fighting a neck issue and was hoping the new sleeker design would help, but it looks like no VR for me until I get the neck issue resolved and go back to my Quest 2.

[DeeX0]

Interesting that more people are not discussing this. 😞

[TheAntiSocializer]

[NOT A SOLUTION] - I am simply marking this as the solution to make sure it is visible to everyone whenever providing updates or asking questions. Thank you for understanding.

[Edit 10/24] - 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.

Hey everyone! I noticed this thread was bubbling up so I wanted to get this shared with our engineering and production team.

In the meantime, to make sure I have the right information, can everyone running into the controller tracking issues please answer the following:

1. What's the full version number of your headset? (57.0.0.####### or likewise)
   • Quick Settings > System > Software Update
2. What's the current firmware version of your controllers?
3. What version is your Meta Quest app running?

As I get some updates, I'll be updating this comment. Thanks!

[FlipperPA]

@TheAntiSocializer I'm afraid I can't provide you the exact version number, but I can tell you they are the latest versions as of this morning. I went through the initial Meta Quest 3 setup yesterday, which downloaded the latest version of the Meta Quest software for the headset, and both controllers were also updated. The Beat Saber app was downloaded and installed this morning.

This issue is trending on the /r/BeatSaber subreddit as well with experienced players who know what their skill level is: it seems to be a fact that while the new Quest 3 might be okay for a casual user and the hand tracking will be cool, but the new controllers are not as precise or able to work at faster speeds as the Quest 2 controllers.

I'm returning my Quest 3 and will circle around in a year or so so see if (a) the software for the tracking has improved enough, or (b) the Quest 3 supports using the Quest 2 controllers for the extra precision.

[cvan65]

This reply is outside of reality.

I have a game room specifically set up for VR. I have a Q2 and a QPro and the lighting and conditions in the room have been perfect for both of those headsets. Not for Q3. Many users of sports games (Walkabout, Golf+, RacketNx, Eleven, etc.) are reporting tracking problems both with and without controller attachments so clearly, Meta did not test some of the most popular and biggest selling games on the headset to ensure that this new controller design and change to tracking would not negatively affect play of those games. And that's exactly what is hapening. Many of these huge selling game developers are dealing with this issue and reporting it on Meta forums and elsewhere so no one is imaging things. Developers would not be pointing this out if it was not a real problem for them. 

I'm grateful that I have pro controllers that I can use but there are still times that the headset screen freezes and jumps in a motion sickness inducing way. I did a factory reset of the headset hoping to clear this and it persists with both Pro and Q3 controllers, so something is unstable in the headset. It's so disappointing to report a real issue that is shared by many (including devs with loads of streed cred) and be told it's you or your room or your movements. It's not.

[x_Brom_x]

Is there a way to do a factory reset on the controllers like you can with the pro controllers?  

[cvan65]

I can't even begin to say how much enjoyment I have had from all my Quest headsets over the years, and had hoped that the Q3 would revive interest in VR but so many folks I know are returning them and sticking with the Q2 due to all the tracking problems. I hate to see that but not sure what solution there is other than returning or laying out the cash for Pro controllers. 

I'm not sure there is anything Meta can do software wise to fix this issue. It does not seem that the tracking system was thoroughly tested with some of the biggest selling games by people very skilled at those games, nor did they test much, if at all with controller attachments for various apps, which are hugely popular across all game genres including many of the biggest selling Quest games. These issues are seen with controller only and with the use of controller adapters.

If whomever tested this opened up a golf or tennis game, played gorilla tag or any number of other games (many of which are HUGE sellers) at the level of skilled players, they would have seen in short order that the proposed tracking system would be problematic. I'm not sure how they obtain feedback during the design phase, but they may want to revisit their methods and modify them to include some of the top level gamers as testers for these critically important things. 

There is a double whammy at play here: one is that you need the face of the controller to always be looking at the headset cameras, and two: the removal of the cameras on the top side of the headset and relocating them to the front ensures that once you bring your arm back in a tennis serve sort of way or anything remotely close to that, there's no way for the headset to track. The combo tracking in which hand tracking kicks in to "find" the controllers once they are out of sight of the LEDs, as reported by one of the popular VR news sites in an article, experiences a slight delay while this switchover to handtracking is taking place. Sports, workout and other fast paced games do not accommodate delays, hence all the problems people are having. From a gameplay point of view the Q2 is the better headset unless you drop the cash on Pro controllers for the Q3. 

I'm grateful that I have Pro controllers to use, but the number of friends I have that are returning their Q3s and sticking with the Q2s because of the tracking problems is alarming to me. 

[Breakerlove]

Same thing here. I find my self losing tracking way more often than the Q2 controllers. Iv tried turning off hand tracking and I think that helped a little but I also noted that it sometimes does not think my finger is touching the face buttons. Nut until I bring the controllers up to my face. If you are in your Meta home world you will see that you Avi lets go of the controllers every 5 sec. I wonder if that has anything to do with it. 

It is almost as if the controllers are going to sleep? Really strange and i hope we get a fix for this soon. 

[Breakerlove]

They killed off Meta support sadly.