Enlarge (credit: Mark Walton)

As consumer-level virtual reality has quickly become a real thing in the last few years, I’ve used plenty of headsets on both ends of the price and quality continuum. I’ve slapped a phone into a makeshift Google Cardboard kit, and the slightly fancier Samsung Gear VR, for a passable, portable virtual world. I’ve twiddled an Xbox controller at my desk while wearing a beautifully designed headset with a multi-billion-dollar social network behind it. I’ve dedicated an entire room and a $1,200 PC to the closest thing we have to a real holodeck.

After years sampling these VR extremes, it’s hard to see Sony’s PlayStation VR as anything but straight down the middle. The new offering quite simply splits the difference on those stratified headset hardware extremes. For about $800/£500 as an “all-in” price (and much less if you already own the $350/£250 PlayStation 4 and/or the $50/£39 PlayStation Camera), you get a much fuller VR experience than what you can muster with just a cell phone and a cheap holster. Compared to a top-of-the-line PC, though, virtual reality powered by a three-year-old living room console comes with some compromises—though not as many as you might think.

This is how a headset should feel

A first look at the unboxed PlayStation VR. (video link)