Initial Reactions to ‘Surreal Touch’ Third-Party Vision Pro Controllers

Surreal Touch is gearing up to make waves in the VR space as a new motion controller for Vision Pro, funded through Kickstarter. Kicking off its journey with a timely rollout in December, these controllers are starting to generate buzz among early adopters.

Among those early users is Nima Zeighami, a well-respected figure in the XR industry and the mind behind the Vision Pro Owners Club on Twitter. As one of the backers of the Surreal Touch Kickstarter, which successfully amassed $127,000, Zeighami was fortunate to receive the controllers early and generously offered his initial thoughts with us.

The Surreal Touch controllers for Vision Pro come equipped with on-board cameras for position tracking, akin to Meta’s Touch Pro controllers. An SDK is in the pipeline, set to help developers create VisionOS apps that can fully leverage these controllers. As of now, there’s software available for Windows that allows you to stream PC VR content to Vision Pro, enabling the use of these controllers with SteamVR games.

Zeighami highlighted the seamless PC VR streaming experience, facilitated by Surreal’s proprietary software. This includes the Surreal Link app for Vision Pro and the Surreal Streamer app for PC. Impressively, it took him only ten minutes to set everything up for SteamVR gameplay using the controllers. “Surreal Link provides one of the smoothest and most hassle-free wireless VR experiences I’ve ever encountered,” he remarked. Rejoining SteamVR sessions was equally swift, taking merely a minute. Overall, Zeighami found the software outstanding.

“The magic of Surreal Touch lies more in its software than in its hardware or tracking capabilities,” he explained. Creating a sophisticated motion controller is daunting, but developing a VR streaming app that’s user-friendly and reliable is equally impressive.”

However, the tracking quality of the controllers seems to invite mixed feelings. While Zeighami was satisfied with the latency, he had some reservations about the positional accuracy.

“[Surreal] promises under 10mm positional and 1° rotational tracking accuracy. Though I faced no issues with the rotational aspect, positional accuracy was occasionally problematic. Distances could span up to 10cm, often in scenarios where the controller faces something featureless, like a blank ceiling or a switched-off TV, or when obstructions like hands block the camera view,” he explained.

Zeighami also likened the tracking to the first Magic Leap, which also used a magnetically-tracked controller. “Surreal Touch reminds me of the Magic Leap 1 controller: reliable for most applications but with frequent jitters affecting gameplay, making it impractical for competitive games and professional tools.”

For games featuring slower hand movements, the controllers perform satisfactorily. However, they struggle in fast-paced scenarios, like Beat Saber, where losing position often makes the game unplayable.

Besides tracking quality, Zeighami gave the controllers praise for their build and feel. “They’re lightweight, and the buttons, joystick, and triggers feel excellent,” he noted, although he added that there were a few finishing issues. “The left controller showed slight misalignment with the plastic sticking out, and the grip triggers creaked.”

Another downside is the lack of capacitive sensing. While not crucial, given its limited use across VR, it is still a noteworthy absence.

Though PC VR streaming is seamless, using the controllers with VisionOS—which doesn’t inherently support them—proves trickier. A “cursor mode” can aim a cursor using the controller, yet it operates more like a mouse than a laser pointer commonly used in VR interfaces. Additionally, there’s no natural way to trigger the ‘Home’ action with the controllers, requiring alternative methods.

Currently, no native VisionOS apps support the controllers, and Zeighami remains skeptical about future adoption in that regard. “Vision Pro developers are unlikely to embrace the Surreal SDK given the niche market of Vision Pro with Surreal Touch users. This primarily serves SteamVR integration.”

There may be potential for Surreal Touch to become an ‘open’ motion controller for various VR headsets since they use independent on-board tracking. However, without a public native SDK, this remains a future possibility.

Despite the challenges, Surreal Touch deserves applause for its punctual launch, a rarity among Kickstarter ventures. As Zeighami reflects on the controllers’ value at the current $300 price, he affirms, “Absolutely worth it, especially with the enhanced visuals of 2016-era SteamVR games on the Vision Pro, surpassing even top-tier Quest 3 games.”

“If you’re someone who invested in Vision Pro over Quest or own both, eager to dive into PC VR games like VRChat, Half-Life: Alyx, and Skyrim VR, Surreal Touch is the way to go,” Zeighami advised. “There’s room for improvement in tracking and overall quality from Surreal Interactive, but the experience, even with its flaws, stands out. It not only meets usability standards but is essential for exploring the SteamVR platform on the Vision Pro.”