The Oculus Quest will at last receive the hand tracking 2.0 update, three years after its debut and two years after it was retired and replaced with a newer model.
That’s right, Meta hasn’t forgotten about the Oculus Quest 2, which served as the forerunner of its wildly successful VR headset. The Oculus Quest upgrade is scheduled to launch in October (via Upload VR(opens in new tab)).
By improving the ability of the Quest 2’s cameras and algorithms to recognise the poses of your hands, hand tracking 2.0 will enhance the original Quest’s current capabilities. If your play area is suitably lighted, it should be able to detect your hands even while they are moving swiftly or partially hidden from view.
These enhancements should make using your hands more immersive with Hand Tracking 2.0. Finally, you won’t have to worry about your headset malfunctioning when you clap or clasp your hands together.
You won’t need to do anything to start using hand tracking 2.0; instead, you’ll need to wait for game developers to include the feature. Thankfully, a number of developers, like Vacation Simulator and the city-building game Little Cities, have already adapted and implemented hand tracking 2.0 in their games for the Quest 2. As a result, the Quest versions should receive the upgrade soon.
Don’t refer to it as a comeback.
Sadly, the hand tracking 2.0 update won’t bring back Meta’s previous standalone gear. We anticipate that it won’t lead to a sudden surge in new Oculus Quest support.
Because the Quest is a significant reduction in terms of specs despite just being one year older than the Quest 2 (and sharing many features). It employs a Snapdragon 835 CPU and Adreno 540 GPU combination, which the Qualcomm SnapdragonTM XR2 Platform outperforms, and only has 4GB RAM (as opposed to the Quest 2’s 6GB).
Some of the top Oculus Quest 2 games, such as Resident Evil 4 VR, are currently incompatible with the previous headset due to the power difference; we anticipate that more new titles will be Quest 2-only in the future.
Instead, consider this to be the Oculus Quest’s last-ditch effort and yet more excuse to delay updating your VR system until more information regarding Project Cambria is available (or the hotly anticipated Oculus Quest 3).
