Chances are, you will never get to try out the new 3D MiG flight simulator. If you have almost US$60,000 that has nothing better to do, however, you can now buy something almost as impressive - the OVO-4 Home Flight Simulator. The egg-shaped capsule contains a full simulated light aircraft cockpit, with three linked 24-inch monitors displaying the output of Microsoft's Flight Simulator X. Best of all, however, the capsule pitches and rolls according to what's happening in the simulation - users presumably have to supply their own barf bags.
The 1,000-kilogram (2,205-lb.) OVO-4 runs off of regular mains power, and is installed in one's home by an engineer who will arrive with it (presumably not in the same crate). He will even stick around for an extra couple of days, to teach the owner how to use the device.
Depending on the buyer's preference, the controls will be modeled after those of a Cessna 172, Piper Seneca, Mooney Bravo, or a generic layout can be specified. Along with the first-person landscape display on the three monitors, the OVO-4 also features a "chest-thumping" multi-speaker sound system, along with a vibration system for simulating air turbulence, runway irregularities, engine vibration and jolting. The big movements are used to provide the sensations of twisting, pitching, slipping, acceleration and braking.
Adding to the realism is a smart lighting system, that adjusts the interior lighting of the capsule to represent the ambient lighting depicted in the onscreen simulation.
A separate supervisor station is also included. This unit contains the PC that's running the software, along with a monitor that displays the game play. Using the keyboard or mouse, an operator can adjust the skill level and other parameters of the simulation, or stop it if the pilot starts freaking out (the capsule itself also features an emergency STOP button).
The OVO-4 Home Flight Simulator is made by Spain's VirtualFly, and is available via Firebox for GBP35,995 (about US$57,232).
You can see it in action in the video below.
Source: 7 Gadgets
