It's such an exciting time for VR right now. Interest in the medium has never been higher and forward thinking developers are finally getting the investments they need to make unique virtual reality experiences a reality. Iteration and experimentation are happening at an ever accelerating rate as we barrel towards a Ready Player One eventuality. The days of gimmicky prototypes are in the rear view as VR headsets become lifestyle devices for more and more people. Startup company VirZOOM knows this, and their fitness platform VZFit is a product with the kind of mainstream appeal tha๊t has the potential to bring VR to the next level.
When VirZOOM reached out to us to try out VZFit, my imagination immediately sparked. Combing VR with cycling is the kind of chocolate-in-my-peanut-butter idea that made an instant connection for me. From talking to a lot of people about it, seems like a no-brainer to everyone else too. Especially💫 now that the Oculus Quest a🧜nd Oculus Go are a) widely available, and b) extremely affordable, it's really the perfect time for something like this to come out - and VirZOOM has seized the opportunity with VZFit.
Breaking Down The Components
There's a lot to unpack here concerning exactly what VZFit is: the sensor kit () comes with a Bluetooth crank sensor and a Bluetooth thumb controller. The sensor attaches to either the left or right peddle of any stationary bike, while the controller attache🐷s to the bike's grip. Aside from the sensor kit and an exercise bike, you'll also need either an Oculus Quest or an Oculus Go.
VirZOOM was kind enough to loan me an Oculus Quest and a stationary bike to try out VZFit. I🐼've been using a collapsible bike from . After attaching the sensor and controller to the bike and downloading VZFit on the Quest, I was ready to go.
Playing Games Makes Exercising Fly By
There were a couple of unexpected realizations as soon as I started playing VZFit. First, I though steering would be an immersion breaker since the handle bars of the s💫tationary bike don't turn, but I was delighted to find that the Oculus is tracking the way your body leans, so you can steer in VZFit as naturally as riding a mo൩torcycle. The second thing I realized was that there are way cooler things to do on an exercise bike in VR than just ride a bike.
VZFit currently offers 10 different games that range from tank batt💃les, to car racing, to even helicopter flying - and each game is more fun than the next. It's amazing how many different ways of moving feel natural on the bike - despite the fact that peddling to drive a tank doesn't make much sense, it still feels great.
My personal favorite is the Pegasus riding game. You control a Pegasus from a 3rd person perspective and guide it along an endless mountain road, eating apples for energy. Once you have enough energy you simply press the button on the controll❀er to lift off the ground and fly. Once airborဣne, you can take big short cuts by flying from one point on the road to another when you otherwise would have needed to follow a long and windy path.
In multiplayer (which most of the games include), I found I would 🐷push myself harder and harder in a race against other players. That focus and sense of competition is something no other piece of home exercise equipment can offer. I wanted to win more than I wanted to slow down or stop because I was tired.
The Sky Is The Limit
VZFit feels very much like it's in it's infancy, and I mean that in the best way possible. With support, I could see this platform growing into something with a huge m♈ainstream audience. Right now, the game's a pretty drab to look at (think PS1 graphics) but honestly, I don't think that's a big issue. This isn't an immersion-first experience like a lot of the visually impressive games in VR. I like to think of it more as an engagement-first experience. The purpose of VZFit is to take you out of your physical space and give you something really engaging to do while you bike. I've tried to watch TV while I cycle to compare the experience, and while that's enjoyable, riding is still a fairly monotonousness experience. In VZFit, time simply melts away while you chase bandits on horseback and shoot cannon balls at your friends in epic tank battles.
The entire platform is extremꦚely accessible even if you have no prior VR experience. Steering in the games is as intuitive as leaning in the direction you want to go and the most you'll ever need to do is press one button on the controller. It would be nice to incorporate the Oculus Touch controller in some games like the horseback riding though. I'd much prefer to aim at the bandits with one hand and toss the lasso naturally rather than have to steady my head to aim while I'm trying to ride fast.
I also think some of the games need to be tuned a little better for the phases of an exercise. You can chose the length of each game from 1💦0 minutes to an hour which is great, but the games don't really feel like they ramp up at the beginning or slow down towards the end to me.
Drag That Exercise Bike Out Of The Basement
There's a good chance you'𝔍ve got a stationary bike collecting dust already, but even if you don't, you can get the entire set-up going for under $500. People pay a lot more than that for at home exercise equipment, and you get the benefit of an Oculus VR headset that can do lots of cool things outside of exercising.
Wii Fit sold Nintendo Wii's to the whole family and introduced people to gaming who had never tried it before. Gamifying exercise has the power to bring gamer⛄s into fitness and fitness people into ga🃏ming. I think VZFit is a hell of an experience and it's got me riding the bike for an hour or more every day the past couple weeks. If you already have a bike or an Oculus, you really should get on this now. The investment is low, the games are fun, and it's good for you. What's better than that?
A VZFit sensor kit was provided to TheGamer for t꧂his review. You can get the or .