'Ready Player One,' directed by Steven Spielberg and based on the novel by Ernest Cline, offers a thrilling adventure set in both the dystopian real world and the immersive virtual reality universe known as the OASIS. Released in 2018, the film's themes and concepts are certainly relevant to the ongoing development of virtual reality (VR) technology.

The OASIS is filled with references to 1980s and 1990s pop culture, from video games and movies to music and fashion. This nostalgia serves both as a celebration of geek culture and as a commentary on how media and entertainment can shape our identities and influence our experiences.

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VR Advancements

Since we first began dabbling in virtual reality, we have gone a long way. Early HTC and Oculus products had poor resolutions and a lot of screen door effects. In particular, if you take into account the older developer hardware, which wasn't even 1080p, or you can go even further back to the Virtual Boy, a 1995 release from Nintendo that offered stereoscopic VR-like experiences.

In order to counteract the screen door effects, headsets have now been made lighter, more comfortable, and with higher-resolution screens. But how far away are we from the state of VR that 'Ready Player One' portrays?

The VR experience in Ready Player One is so realistic that it blends seamlessly with reality. In virtual worlds, people can live for hours, days, or even weeks, where people can use virtual reality to work, play, and perhaps fall in love.

The requirement for powerful computers is one of the main obstacles to making VR experiences that are really immersive. Because portable headsets, like the Meta Quest 2 or Apple Vision Pro, lack access to these resources. Current VR headsets still lag behind because they need a strong PC to run them (ideally with RTX-level graphics, etc.). Even the lens technology needs some further advancements.

The Apple Vision Pro's hardware is impressive in today's standards but not advanced enough to even be compared to the VR experience shown in 'Ready Player One.' Its processor, the M2 chip as advanced as it is, can go nowhere near what the processing power of the OASIS equipment can do in the movie.

The requirement for haptic feedback poses another difficulty. We can feel objects in virtual reality thanks to haptic feedback, which is similar to the haptics of an Xbox or PlayStation controller. VR experiences without it may feel lifeless and flat. Thank goodness, several businesses-including bHaptics-are developing haptic feedback technologies. Although it is still in its early phases, there are already items on the market. Along with that, some headsets, like the anticipated Meta Quest 3 that will be released later this year, are starting to incorporate haptic feedback.

Additionally, AI technology wouldn't allow avatars to go on autopilot when the player logs out. The current state of AI is just starting to delve into what the human brain is capable of, much less run a VR character based on what an individual person will do.

VR headsets will, however, get smaller, lighter, more powerful, and more affordable as processing power keeps rising. Additionally, more immersive (and realistic) computing equals a better user experience.

As fantastic as things are right now, I think it's easy to create an analogy of the development of VR and contrast that with that of gaming consoles today. We are currently on par with the Super Nintendo (SNES) gaming system. But we won't be able to fully immerse ourselves in VR environments until we achieve a degree of success in it akin to what the PlayStation 1 delivered to the console market. Once we get to Playstation 5, then we'll truly get to an advanced level and start looking for the 'keys.' 

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