Do you know what my Oculus Quest 2 setup needs? More weird controller attachments
When I think of controller attachments, I immediately picture the crappy Wii Remote add-ons I had as a kid.
At first I loved them – I wouldn’t touch Wii Sports until my controller looked like a tennis racket or golf club – but over time I came to despise them. The cheap plastic constructions always broke after a few uses, and they objectively made playing games more difficult because they would block the sensor on the end of the remote.
I recently had the chance to try out the HelloReal Grip-to-putter with my Oculus Quest 2 and Meta Quest Pro VR headsets, and it reopened my eyes to the immersion accessories can bring to virtual reality – whether it whether it be gaming, working out, or just getting to work.
My Grip-to-Putter Thoughts
The HelloReal Grip-to-Putter is a golf club controller accessory and the perfect companion for Walkabout Mini Golf – one of my favorite VR experiences.
You slide your Quest 2 or Quest Pro controller into the open end where it fits snugly – for added assurance that your handset won’t fly off when you swing the club. HelloReal has included instructions for securing with the controller wristbands. Once it’s in place, you can fire up your favorite VR golf app and enjoy swinging a club that looks a lot more like the real thing than your controller ever did.
The Grip-to-putter gets its name from the grip-to-putt feature in Walkabout Mini Golf. When this setting is enabled in the app’s menu, the end of your club will disappear until you press and hold the side grip button on the controller. This allows you to take a few practice swings without the risk of accidentally hitting your virtual ball before you’re ready.
HelloReal’s attachment includes a device that depresses the controller’s grip button when you press the trigger that sits just above the padded end. While playing Walkabout with the putter took some getting used to – as the mechanics are a bit different with the add-on – I found it made the whole experience significantly more immersive.
Must feel to believe
As you can see from the images above, the HelloReal putter looks nothing like a golf club other than it has a vague pole shape. But it doesn’t matter what the add-on looks like, only what it is feels like – and HelloReal has nailed the golf club feel down to the last detail. The putter’s padded grip and weight distribution are perfect.
Once I put on my headset, I fully believed I was holding a real golf club. And this got me thinking: I need more realistic-feeling VR accessories to use at home.
Inspired by the Wii’s heyday, I can already envision some of the VR gaming accessories I could get, such as attachments that mimic the feel of swords and axes or sports-inspired add-ons for VR fishing and tennis.
For the VR fitness fans out there, wouldn’t it be great to get a weighted club attachment that makes your supernatural workout a little harder? Maybe one day we can get a boxing glove-inspired accessory that brings Litesport VR and other boxing workouts to life.
While we’re working in the metaverse, maybe we could use blank slates and styluses that make us believe we’re writing on paper when we’re taking virtual notes. OK, this add-on is a bit dreary, but if working in reverse is unavoidable, maybe it would make it more fun than I found it before – I much prefer traditional pen and paper to using a keyboard. It would also feel more real than the controller styluses that Meta ships in the Quest Pro’s box, which let you write in VR, albeit clumsily. If you didn’t know the styluses came in the box, it could be that they are small and extremely easy to lose.
Cost and effect
These kinds of realism-enhancing accessories are already used by commercial VR experiences that you can find in some malls and theme parks to great effect – but they do have a downside if you want to take them home. Cost.
Different add-ons have different prices, with gadgets like the Omni One VR treadmill at the ‘ridiculous’ end (over $2,500, about £2,000 / AU$3,900), and accessories like the Grip-to-putter at a more reasonable $58.99 (about £46 / AU$91). Granted, $58.99 still isn’t “cheap,” but if you plan on using your VR accessory a lot, you’ll probably feel it’s a good bang for your buck.
So if you’re an experienced VR user – or even pick it up once a week – and you’ve considered getting some accessories for it then I’d say go for it (provided they’re good quality are). Burnt by the Wii, I’d immediately dismiss any add-on as a gimmick, but after trying the HelloReal putter, I scoured the internet for other weird goodies I could pick up to enhance my VR setup.