Meta Bragged AI Would Improve Quest 3 Tracking. But Many Quest 3 Owners Are Complaining Hit Games Are Unplayable Due to Poor Tracking.

Here's what Meta's CTO Andrew Bosworth bragged about in June, regarding AI improving the soon-to-be-released Quest 3:

Our decades-long work in AI is driving progress everywhere even in places you wouldn’t expect like Quest 3’s Touch Plus controllers.

No tracking rings—AI models for estimating their position got so good we don’t need them anymore.

Result is sleeker, more versatile controllers.

But here's the kind of complaints some Quest 3 owners are making now:

Quest 3 Controller Tracking Issues

It does not seem that the tracking system was thoroughly tested with some of the biggest selling games by people very skilled at those games, nor did they test much, if at all with controller attachments for various apps, which are hugely popular across all game genres including many of the biggest selling Quest games...

If whomever tested this opened up a golf or tennis game, played Gorilla tag or any number of other games (many of which are HUGE sellers) at the level of skilled players, they would have seen in short order that the proposed tracking system would be problematic.

Veteran VR fan Tim "FlipperPA" Allen, a longtime member of the hardcore Beat Saber community, confirms this with me first-hand:

"[I] noticed almost immediately how unusable the new controllers were. I've been fighting a pinched nerve in my neck, and was hoping the new slimmer design and even weight of the Quest 3 might help. But without usable controllers with decent tracking, it is a non-starter for my exercise routine, such as Beat Saber!"

To further validate that this is not just an isolated incident, he also sent along multiple comment threads of Quest 3 owners complaining about the same problem:

• Quest 3 bad tracking 
• Is anyone else having bad tracking on quest 3
• Don’t buy the Quest 3!

Someone from Meta tech support even replied to these complaints, saying:

We'll be working to improve performance, especially for competitive players in games like Gorilla Tag, Supernatural, IB Cricket, and Eleven Table Tennis. We expect to roll some of these improvements in the upcoming releases.

But Tim (and for that matter, me) aren't convinced software fixes will address the fundamental issue. Because the problem seems to reside with VR experiences like Beat Saber that require highly precise, high speed tracking -- and apparently, the AI algorithm's inability to approximate those accurately:

"By removing the infrared ring and going with pure camera tracking and software 'guestimates', difficult games requiring precision are now unplayable," as Tim explains. "This includes a wide swath of exercise games, like Supernatural, and Beat Saber at the higher levels. Meta thought the improved tracking algorithms would be up to tracking the new 'Touch Plus' controllers; they were very wrong. Anyone who plays workout-style games with fast movement at any high level will be severely disappointed."

Or as he puts it even more bluntly: "It looks like Boz jumped the gun on AI, and everyone is paying the price."

I'm checking with Meta PR for an official response. It looks like the Quest 3 is fine if you're a more casual player, or just enjoy low twitch experiences like, well, VRChat. But if you're a hardcore VR twitcher, caveat the fucking emptor on Quest 3.

Comments

[Peepee]

Quest 3 passed the beat saber Expert+ test 💀

[FlipperPA]

@Peepee I don't believe it, heh. I haven't seen any visible proof of that, just folks bragging about how "it is fine for them and must be because you're a lame player LOL" :)

Check out the latest reply from an actual developer from one of the most popular Quest athletic games, and their opinion: https://communityforums.atmeta.com/t5/Get-Help/Quest-3-Controller-Tracking-Issues/m-p/1098806/emcs_t/S2h8ZW1haWx8dG9waWNfc3Vic2NyaXB0aW9ufExPQ1hWNjFXNDBQR05OfDEwOTg4MDZ8U1VCU0NSSVBUSU9OU3xoSw#M240556

They were involved or consulted in the development process of the Quest 3 *at all.*

[Liana]

The don't buy the Quest 3 link is completely irrelevant, was created before the Quest 3 even came out and was locked because it has incorrect information in it.
How about removing it from this article for doing the same, it doesn't help at all.

As for the rest, the majority of complaints as you say are from pro / hardcore gamers. People who play things like Beatsaber at that level are most often using a Quest 3 with PCVR which has added latency, even with Quest2.
The standalone version of Beatsaber doesn't suffer anywhere near the same number of complaints, especially for people who play up to Expert level. I'm not an expert+ player so I can't say but having played plenty of songs at Expert level in GOOD lighting on Quest 3 once I got used to the weight difference of the new controllers, and I honestly believe that's a factor because my first tries in crappy lighting on an overcast day, were night and day in the scores and number of misses I was getting to what I achieve now.