In metaverse news, the virtual worlds of science fiction seems within our grasp thanks to a new VR wingsuit experience being offered in the U.S.
The entertainment facility in Salt Lake City, Utah, has opened the gate to what the Metaverse could be.
This new company is giving people a hyperreal VR-immersed wingsuit experience. In a world first, this operation is showing us what the future of fully immersive experiences can be.
Called ‘The Jump’, the experience was created by VR veteran James Jensen. Presently, the Salt Lake City location is the only one of its kind in the world. But if this is successful, they hope to expand.
The experience is for solo users for now, but the company is working on an adaptation that means that multiple guests can use the device simultaneously.
The VR wingsuit experience
Guests start by signing in and using an iPad to measure their ‘IPD’. IPD is the distance between pupils. It is measured so the custom VR helmet can be individually calibrated to each user.
After a safety video, then the guest is fitted with their wingsuit, which has been retrofitted with high-tech adaptions to make the experience hyper-realistic. Finally, a high-tech VR headset is fitted.
The VR video experience starts with the guest being in the back of a ‘plane’, and the floor drops away. The noise of the plane’s engines comes through the headset speakers. Fans are blown onto the guest at strategic moments, and then the guest is instructed to jump.
This jumping action, and any other action, is matched to the visuals inside the headset. Ducts in the suit inflate with air, making the suit rigid. The guest is suspended by an intricate pulley system for a real-life feeling. The guest can tilt their body from side-to-side to glide through objects in the video.
In Metaverse news… the feedback
A guest who was invited to try the jump said, “Soaring through this valley was just breathtaking. And this detailed environment is actually a real-life photogrammetry scan of a real-life base-jumping location in Utah. It’s absolutely stunning. At the end, my parachute opened up, my feet touched the ground and the experience was over. As I took the helmet off, I can still feel all the adrenaline surging through my body. What an incredible VR experience.”
After the experience, guests can settle their adrenaline levels in a chill area, and watch the reel of their experience.
While the concept of the one metaverse is somewhat off into the distance, offerings like these keep the anticipation of its arrival alive.
