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Nvidia’s going big at GDC before going even bigger at GTC. But there’s one quiet announcement amidst DLSS 4.5 dynamic multi-frame generation and GeForce Now upgrades that could be a massive one for anyone who owns an Apple Vision Pro — looking for reasons to use it.
Team Green’s CloudXR technology is able to stream PC VR games wirelessly from your gaming PC to the Vision Pro in glorious 4K 120 FPS, and their first target is the ultimate sim rig experience with support for iRacing and X-Plane 12.
Obviously, good news for sim pilots (shout-out), but as you may already know about me, I’m the sim racing guy on the Tom’s Guide team (my bachelor party is literally dedicated to it). One thing is clear: this is a breakthrough for VR drivers like me. Let me explain.
Article continues belowWhat is Nvidia’s CloudXR?
One thing I have to make clear here is that CloudXR is a very different thing to GeForce Now. Both are game streaming, but while GFN is from Nvidia’s cloud servers, CloudXR streams directly from your own hardware. You’ll need a beauty tower too, because its capabilities are significant.
Think of CloudXR as me vs a strong person taking in a bunch of groceries from the car. I can handle two bags, but if I try to handle more, it becomes a struggle. So my muscly friend comes in and takes the remaining eight bags. We’re technically working together, but let’s be real — they’re doing the heavy lifting (literally).
It’s GPU-accelerated VR delivered wirelessly to a headset with low-latency, which brings a serious graphical turboboost of that Nvidia GPU that you wouldn’t be able to do on the silicon of that standalone set.
And while some people have been talking about beta testing this new feature on the Vision Pro subreddit, this is the first time Nvidia’s officially letting the cat out the bag.
The big win here is foveated PC streaming. Basically, thanks to Apple Vision Pro’s eye-tracking capability, Nvidia’s CloudXR tech can see where you’re looking and render that part of your vision in full glorious detail — while leaving stuff in your peripheral vision and beyond less so. PSVR 2 does something similar with rendering graphics on the PS5, but it doesn’t hold a candle to this.
It’s a huge efficiency gain for your GPU, and provides much more headroom to be able to achieve up to full 4K gaming at 120 FPS in VR.
The Vision Pro’s killer app?
That question is a tricky one to answer — it’s a $3,500 headset after all. But any new features are warmly welcomed to try and get more value from what has quickly become the beta test device for the version of visionOS that will run on a future pair of smart glasses.
But take it from a VR sim racer: there’s no experience quite like it (…except maybe actually driving a race car, but there’s no risk factor here).
I know we’re all quick to talk about the “immersion” of something, and don’t get me wrong, it absolutely is. But there’s something here about it that actually makes you a better driver.
Take trail-braking for example (instead of hammering on the brakes to slow down for a corner, using a more gentle combination of brake and acceleration to maximize corner speed). It’s a tricky technique to learn and while I’m absolutely getting the feedback I need from my sim rig to ensure I’m not over-driving, being able to see the path of a corner is also critical.
Now, on the flat screen of a TV or monitor, that can be next to impossible on long-swooping turns or oddly-angled hairpins that disappear off the side. In VR, I can look to the apex and corner exit and aim my car for it.
Yes, I know this sounds small and that I’m getting really geeky here (sim racing is extremely my thing). But it’s oh-so critical to extracting the slight performance improvements that are the difference between a win and a loss.
Not the only XR upgrade
For the other update, we look over to Nvidia GeForce Now, where on March 19, Apple Vision Pro and Meta Quest headsets are getting a streaming upgrade to 90 FPS. It’s great to see these platforms continue to get supported — nothing quite like throwing on my Quest 3S in bed and playing PC games on a gigantic screen on my ceiling.
And as the subreddit community seems to confirm about beta tests, CloudXR is something that can be used across multiple games, which would be huge for the future of PC VR gaming. Getting those cables outta the way is a step towards true plug and play simplicity that can be the biggest thing holding potential players back.
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