As a guy that writes a lot about VR on the internet I’ve seen and played my fair share of space flight games. From piloting massive ships as I explore the stars in Elite: Dangerous and engaging in epic multiplayer dogfights in EVE: Valkyrie, all the way down to some casual fun on the Gear VR with Anshar Wars 2 or even flying an X-Wing for the first time in the Star Wars Battlefront VR Mission, there is a ton of stuff to do in space if you have a VR headset. But what most of these things lack is a believable sense of realism.
I can hang out with friends aboard an Enterprise-caliber Starship in Star Trek: Bridge Crew, but that’s entirely fiction. On the other end of the spectrum games like Go For Launch: Mercury are focused on 100% authentic, historically accurate, simulation.
Created by one amateur programmer named Joe Chisholm, Go For Launch: Mercury aims to be one of the most realistic space flight simulators ever made. “Working with data from the NASA history office, the simulation accurately recreates America’s first manned space program down to the finest detail,” writes Chisholm in an email to UploadVR. “Every last nut, bolt, switch and lever functioning exactly as it did in the original Mercury Spacecraft.”
The cockpits are fully interactive with HTC Vive and Oculus Touch motion controllers and you can even explore the cockpits themselves. Chisholm has been working on Go For Launch: Mercury for over two years now and is gearing up to launch the full experience later this year in September.
In the meantime, you can download and play a free demo on Steam, Oculus Home, or Viveport right now to get a taste of what he’s building. What do you think of his simulation? Let us know down in the comments below!
