Samsung’s Nick DiCarlo on VR Roller Coasters at Six Flags

Nine different New Revolution Virtual Reality Coasters open to the general public at Six Flags theme parks around the country this Thursday, April 21st. A couple of roller coaster veterans Six Flags who had seen every roller coaster imaginable and had ceased to be impressed by new theme park rides saw a VR Coasters demo by Thomas Wagner on a pretty mild roller coaster at Orlando’s Fun Spot America while wearing a Gear VR, and it completely blew them away. It made such a bit impression that they made a quick decision to get the technology into 9 different theme parks as fast as they could.

Nick DiCarlo is the Vice President of Immersive Products & Virtual Reality at Samsung, and I caught up with him at SXSW to hear more about the VR Coaster technology syncs their VR experience to each roller coaster, how they’re managing the logistics of Gear VR headsets, and the future of using Gear VR headsets in theme park attractions.

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I was going to go try out one of the Six Flags VR roller coasters before GDC as part of a Samsung media event, but it was postponed due to bad weather in Dallas that week. I’m fairly sensitive to motion sickness caused by visual and vestibular disconnects, and so the jury is still out for me as to whether or not these VR coasters have good enough tracking and synchronization to not cause sim sickness for those who are already particularly sensitive. Leave a comment down below if you have a chance to try out any of these roller coasters and how sensitive you are to motion sickness from VR locomotion.

Here’s some game play footage from Theme Park Review of a roller coaster on the New Revolution Virtual Reality Coasters

Here’s a 30-second promo for the New Revolution Virtual Reality Coasters at Six Flags

And here’s a 7 and a half minute documentary about bringing these VR Roller Coasters to Six Flags

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Theme music: “Fatality” by Tigoolio
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