World’s First Virtual Reality Roller Coaster In Alton Towers Set To Open On 24 March Amid Protests
Alton Towers is set to launch the purported world's first virtual reality rollercoaster on March 24 offering customers a customized journey with the aid of headsets donned with the breakthrough technology that promises a law-bending experience into outer space.
The petrifying ride is called Galactica- an alternative and possibly an attractive new ride at the Staffordshire theme park where a rollercoaster crash in June last year resulted to 16 injuries.
As reported by Wired, passengers are placed on 2,760ft-long track wearing VR headsets to send them into a recreated space illusion with on-screen movements coinciding with actual track motion. The maximum g-force is 3.5Gs with the fastest segment at 75km per hour which makes the ride a bit rougher than real rocket launch.
As one of the handful tech journalists given the rare privilege of experiencing the ride first-hand, Jamie Rigg of Engadget described his VR roller coaster ride as an 'immersive and 'believable VR experience'.
"The VR version of the ride has a distinct, unique feel to it. The best way I can describe it is you're not really on a roller coaster at all, but a high-tech simulator...Your body is undergoing the stresses and strains of a real low-G turn and a real upside-down loop, allowing you to suspend belief for that brief moment and feel like you really are pulling out of a dangerous nosedive into a waiting wormhole," the journalist wrote as he recalled his experience in his Engadget article.
Despite a protest from those who suffered from injuries in last year's crash, many of its patrons remain largely undaunted over safety concerns.
"We were all running down the hill and screaming and shouting. I just wanted to be here. It's the first time it's run since the accident. I loved the ride, even after the accident. It's the safest ride in the world now," remarked Staffordshire University student James Butler as waited for his turn at the main rollercoaster ride on Saturday as reported by The Guardian.
