TrackIr 5 Professional Premium Head Tracking for Gaming

by Natural Point

Product Features

• Increased realism enhances your game experience through subtle immersion

Product Details

• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• ASIN: B0029M6VKA
• Media: Electronics
• Release Date: February 22, 2010
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (51 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,618 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
  • #56 in Video Games > PC Games > PC Game Hardware

Product Description

Put your head in the game! TrackIR is a cutting edge experience that makes you part of the game.Now your game knows exactly where you are sitting,leaing, and looking, in true 3d space! Take your PC gaming to astonishing new levels of realism and immersion. Bring your game view to life!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

59 of 66 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Most important flight sim add-on!, December 20, 2009

By 

R. A. Head (Laplata, Mo United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: TrackIr 5 Professional Premium Head Tracking for Gaming (Electronics)

I fly Microsoft Flight Sim X as a way to keep my head in flying while I cannot afford to exersize my real life certificate. I've been wanting one of these for a while and during the wait, Natural Point put out the new version 5. I finally bought it and, all I can say is "WOW!"

Okay, that's not all I can say. When the package arrived, quickly I might add, from GoGamer, I was surprised at the size of the box. It was well over-packed and protected from the rigors of shipping. The actual unit is quite small. Unpacking from the bubble package is easier than the normal bubble packaging, too. I was going to wait for Christmas, put it under the tree, etc. but the kids will just have to understand!

Setup is a snap. Installed the software from the website first, then plugged it all up. It just works. I picked one of the default profiles and went flying. It was wonderful to look around the airplane, although I habitually use the hat switch which is now largely useless. I haven't even explored all the settings, profiles, or adjusted anything but the flying is 100% better. I turned my head to look where the runway is! Simple thing, but so, so important for realism. Imagine leaning in forward to see and set the radio, or turn the OBS knob to a precise setting, or craning your neck up to see over the dash better. I'm hoping today to explore the settings some more. I picked a profile that moves actually too well. I need to expand the "dead zone" just a bit so my head movements don't make flying into what my wife calls a puke ride. It isn't of course.

The only difficulty I've had so far is trying to assign buttons for "Center" and "Pause" to my Saitek yoke. I haven't figured out how to make it work. But this is due to my not having explored the software yet. The buttons assign in the Track IR software, but when I start the sim, they aren't functioning. I need to RTM.

Bottom line: This Track IR should win the Nobel Peace Prize. It is an OUTSTANDING product. Even at the default settings I'm still using, it is a HUGE improvement over using the hatswitch for panning, the + and - buttons for zooming, the shift+enter to raise my head, etc. It's only going to get better for me as I improve my personal profile settings. If you are not sold on it yet, read flight sim forums for reviews. There are YouTube videos you can watch it in action. No one ever says they don't like it. If you're reading this review, you want it anyway. Buy it. You will NOT regret your purchase.

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars slight better than v4, December 26, 2009

By 

Fernando Izolini Zart (Brazil) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: TrackIr 5 Professional Premium Head Tracking for Gaming (Electronics)

Compared to the Trackir v4, the v5 is smoothier, and in general you don't need to "recenter" very often. Also, you have more room to move your head, specially when leaning. Considering that v4 is already a 5 star device in my opinion, you can't go wrong with v5. If you have a v4, there is really no necessity to upgrade, but if you're going for your first trackir, don't hesitate - buy v5.

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Situational awareness in a box, October 16, 2009

By 

Marty Watson "Never late for supper" (Near Roanoke Va. USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: TrackIr 5 Professional Premium Head Tracking for Gaming (Electronics)

Yes it's expensive but one you have used it, you can't live without it. Using a hat-switch to look around in air combat simulations cannot compare to simply moving your head naturally to pan around as if you are in the plane. Once you own one, flying without it is just not worth it. Do yourself a favor and buy one. I bought mine directly from the trackir website. You can get a better deal by buying from Amazon or an Amazon retailer.