I spent some time at the Evolt Karting venue today, in order to check out the brand’s new self-named sub-brand, Evolt XR. The idea and goal with this new sub-brand, at its very core at least, is to be able to blend both virtual and mixed reality worlds into the real world.
To that end, this does mean that some special headsets were required to make this initiative a reality (pun intended). Those same headsets were used on two fronts: a VR laser tag session, and that electric go-kart experience.
Evolt XR Laser Tag
To be honest, this application of VR isn’t groundbreaking, but this was, nevertheless, a new addition to Evolt as a whole. The experience was, to put it simply, what you’d expect from a laser tag experience, sans the vibrating vests and any physical barriers and walls in the room.
Rather than physical obstacles and mixed reality setup, you’re guided into a relatively large room with the headset and your “pistol”, which is just a controller fitted with what I can assume is a 3D-printed cutout of a large calibre pistol. Upon donning the headset, you’ll start to see everything else that the VR realm offers: virtual obstacles, walls, corners, and players, both on your team and the opposing side.
As for the “guns”, it could be better: it’s clearly oriented for right-handed people, and for a southpaw like me, it takes a brief moment to hold it properly. The shooting experience is slow, and by that, I mean that projectiles fired travel at a speed that essentially telegraphs your position, as well as gives you and the opposing forces time to dodge each shot by getting behind virtual cover.
Evolt XR Go Kart
This…was possibly the more dangerous of the two experiences for me. Evolt’s goal here was obviously to add another layer of interactivity and family-friendliness to the electric go kart experience: you don the headset, wait for a bit, and the mixed reality experience kicks in.
The best way I can describe the experience is to think of Mario Kart, just in real life and real time. The headset creates an overlay of cartoon characters and objects, and like Mario Kart, you drive over the objects to gain what I assume were special powers that would otherwise serve as a power-up or give you the ability to knock out other racers, but no such luck.
The dangerous part that I’m talking about is this: when the overlay comes into effect, it further warps an already warped depth from the headset, making it difficult to see where the track’s barriers are. Sure, you can make an estimate, but more often than not, I found myself actually hitting the corners of the track.
A little more alarming was that the headsets were supposedly not working as intended; I was stopped mid-session three times because they were tweaking the headset for “not working properly”. At this point, I actually called it quits and got out of the way. On the plus side, I actually managed to get a few laps in with the track on the full-sized Electric Go-Kart upstairs.
At the end of the day, the Evolt XR experience clearly has some edges to iron out, so I won’t hold it against them. To that end, I would recommend that you give it a try, if this sort of things is up your alley.
