As virtual and augmented reality are changing the way people live sport
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Since last week the Dallas Cowboys are the first NFL team to have chosen virtual reality to train . No small feat when you consider that even their head coach, Jason Garrett, is one in which family sits at the table with a talent scout and two other professional coaches (for more his father, Jim, with over thirty years experience league).
Already known for having introduced the aerial shots of a drone in training, at this very moment Garrett jr. may in fact be looking at his quarterbacks, linebackers and safeties run on the line of scrimmage in a field invisible to those who do not wear a viewer .
All the new room for the virtual training Team Texas, recently set up on the recommendation and draft StriVR Labs, a company that seems to be the perfect bridge between research, advanced technology and sport. Based in Stanford, was founded by Derek Belch , kicker legendary for having kicked in one game twice for 50 yards, Jeremy Bailenson , the current director of the Virtual Human Interaction Lab at Stanford University and Trent Edwards , former NFL quarterback in Buffalo, Jacksonville and Philadelphia.
What StriVR Labs sells, after all, is simple, at least to tell: realizes an immersive gaming environment created by shooting 360 degrees, a digital simulation of measurement team principal, so that his samples can become familiar with the patterns of play, try them in real-time with synthetic counterparts and assess its strengths and weaknesses without risking your neck. All while monitoring errors, inaccuracies and parameters of the action, always revisable from the perspective of the athlete.
The Cowboys are just the first professional team to give credit to the training simulated, but already a couple of seasons StriVR Labs tests its systems in collaboration with university programs of Auburn, Arkansas, Clemson, Vanderbilt, Dartmouth and, in fact, Stanford.
The company’s Silicon Valley is also the only one to reinterpret the sport through new digital approaches. To overlap between environment tangible and virtual reality would be appropriate to get used quickly. As written here, perceive them as separate entities will have less and less sense.
When restricting examples also the only sports, you could cite Eon Sports VR, a direct competitor of StriVR Labs and the market with the football simulator Sidekiq , which with a Dive Sports in the head, a portable headset similar to Gear Vr, promises to increase by 60% the correct reading of the game eliminating the possibility of an accident; or Jann Mardenborough , the promise of the English racing championship GP3 not formed on the circuit of Donington, but the asphalt in pixel Gt Academy , a sim racing contest sponsored by Nissan and Sony Playstation.
Only glimpsed, the disruptive impact of augmented reality and virtual also on the perception and enjoyment of the sport traditionally understood may be inferred from the use, last winter, the Google Glass sessions heating of NBA teams as the Sacramento Kings and Indiana Pacers. Or from the rapid spread of virtual experiences that NextVr, company already known for doing that even with Coldplay, is calibrating for NASCAR and the US professional basketball’s top flight.
It seems irresistible step into the shoes – better , in the eyes – the giants of basketball favorite for at least some pre-match shooting. Sentendone also the breath, the voice, the comments field. But equally tempting might be taking sides, virtually next to pilots and mechanics even reflected in the box through cameras Red Dragon with a 6K definition.
Not that the direct immersive 3D is new. His debut in the sport that has happened on the ice in the NHL last February, on the occasion of the confrontation between San Jose Sharks and LA Kings Stadium for the opening game of the Series. Taken with cameras multi directional (a rudimentary version of the system “Jump” by Google and GoPro few days ago) and thanks to the collaboration between the start up Otoy, New Deal Studios and Immersive Media, the match could be seen live by owners Oculs Rift Gear VR or as if, instead of on the couch at home, they were accommodated on the goal line, next to the athletes on the bench, or wherever they preferred around the track.
Presented by Red Bull during the (troubled) stage of the World Motocross Championship in Maggiora, Ride Like Tony VR does more: allows you to enjoy the experience sports as seen and experienced by eight time world champion Sicilian .
Through a system of 7 3+ GoPro cameras arranged on the helmet of the rider, through the viewer’s Facebook (360 HD), a smartphone with Google Cardboard or simply online you can relive, personalizing it with their own eyes, a training session in Malagrotta on Ktm the Sicilian shooting in March.
It does not seem just a ploy to increase the spectacle of a broadcast, but also a first glimpse of a new era in which sport, watched from home, allowing a shared experience in first and, more often than not, otherwise inaccessible.
No coincidence that one of the few meaningful moments of the recent conference of Oculus Vr coincided with the preview, the time duration of a few frames, a unidentified simulation hockey in subjective, however, announced as part of a “sport package” virtual: between pro and against, soon we may experience if not the lives of others, at least their emotions. And make them our own.
Who knows you end watchlist of a Garrett jr. on the line of scrimmage in an invisible field.
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