I have to admit, a vr space sim could be pretty awesome. I've played a lot of oolite and I used to play another space Sim pretty heavily the name which escapes me right now.
>surface exploration and you can have friends join you on your ship as either a gunner or ship-launched fighter pilot.
This seems like it would be pretty fun. I find space Sims get boring though, they tend to get really repetitive. How does elite dangerous do with mission and system variety? I find in the end, with most games like that, different systems tend to boil down to different numbers on the trade screen, maybe a random event or two and a lot of flying around empty space to get to a planet or stations, load up on some trade goods or get a mission, head to the next system, repeat. Maybe mine an asteroid or two for minerals in between.
These things would definitely be prettier and more immersive in VR, but are they any more fun?
System variety is great; you can fly between the various stars / planets in a system, you can land on any rocky / ice planets without an atmosphere. They're all randomly generated when you get outside the "bubble" (a few hundred LY around Sol), but bound by the currently-understood laws of physics. I can't tell you how cool it feels to zoom around various star types in hyperspace or supercharge your jump drive in the jet cone of a neutron star. Asteroid mining is also really cool and engaging, especially in VR.
Mission variety is not-so-great, but I haven't taken an official mission in over a year. There is plenty to do if you're self-directed or you participate in community-driven content.
But yeah, ultimately it is a space sim and it can be played without VR (though a significant percentage of players do use VR). It's still by far the most immersive VR game I've ever played. It's also really pretty, especially with some of the shader mods applied (look up some screenshots for an idea).
E:D is more realistic in the sense that space is "boring". Missions are shoot things, deliver this, patrol that. Systems are far apart (to scale, actually) and travel and navigation is important and takes time. The game has nearly no actual goals/story to speak of, but as a space nerd man it is awesome in VR. I love it!
If you want a game in VR thats more like the old-school Wing Commander Privateer where its less realistic but more focused on the fun/hollywood version of space sci-fi, check out X-Rebirth VR.
>surface exploration and you can have friends join you on your ship as either a gunner or ship-launched fighter pilot.
This seems like it would be pretty fun. I find space Sims get boring though, they tend to get really repetitive. How does elite dangerous do with mission and system variety? I find in the end, with most games like that, different systems tend to boil down to different numbers on the trade screen, maybe a random event or two and a lot of flying around empty space to get to a planet or stations, load up on some trade goods or get a mission, head to the next system, repeat. Maybe mine an asteroid or two for minerals in between.
These things would definitely be prettier and more immersive in VR, but are they any more fun?