Pimax Crystal Light VR-Headset – Simracing-Review

Simracing and VR have been going hand in hand for years. More and more sim racers are relying on VR headsets as their primary output device. The manufacturer Pimax established itself here in recent years and now offers a high-end PC VR headset with a resolution of 2880 x 2880 pixels per eye and a wide range of features with the current generation of the Pimax Crystal Light.

Prices and ordering

The Pimax Crystal Light VR headset can be ordered directly from the Pimax Shop at a price of €769 (€859 with controllers) plus taxes, shipping costs and customs duties. The prices for Germany, for example, are listed as follows:

Pimax Crystal Light: 956.76€
Pimax Crystal Light (with controllers): 1063.86€

Pimax Crystal Light*

10$ Pimax Gutscheincode / Coupon code: simracingpc

The product tested here was provided by the manufacturer. No influence was exerted on this review at any time.

Scope of delivery

The headset is sent securely packaged and shock-protected in a sleek box and, in addition to the headset with connection cables and power supply unit, also includes a warranty card and, if ordered, two controllers with matching USB cables.

Crystal Light Headset, 1 Unit
Two Controllers (Optional)
DP Cable, 1 Unit
Power Adapter, 1 Unit
After-Sales Service Card, 1 Copy

Initial Setup

To get started, a free display port is required for the supplied display port cable, which is almost five metres long, as well as a free USB 3.0 port (USB-A) on the mainboard. In addition, the supplied power supply unit only needs to be connected to the adapter before the headset can be put into operation for the first time. The cable that supplies the headset with power and data at the end is relatively stiff, but can easily be laid on a fixed rig so that it does not interfere during simracing.

The controllers, which are each connected via a USB cable, are more of a nice extra for us sim racers and not absolutely necessary.

Specs

Pimax provides the following specifications for the Crystal Light VR headset:

PCVR
Resolution: 2880 X 2880 Per Eye
35 PPD
Display: QLED + Mini-LED, Local Dimming (Optional)
Refresh Rates: 60, 72, 90, 120 Hz
FOV: 130° (Diag) 115° (H) 105° (V)
Lenses Material: Glass
Lenses Type: Aspheric
Tracking Mode: 6DoF Inside-Out Tracking
IPD: 58-72mm Manual
Foveated Rendering: Fixed 2.0
Lighthouse Faceplate Compatibility: Yes
Eye Tracking: None
Weight: 815g (Headset)
Audio: Integrated Audio, 3.5mm Jack, 2x Microphone
DMAS Compatibility: Yes

Features

Here is an overview of the most important functions of the headset:

QLED display (2880 x 2880 pixels per eye): The two displays, each with a resolution of 2880 x 2880 pixels per eye, which ideally even operate at a resolution of 5100 x 4312 pixels, are of course the centrepiece of the VR headset.
Aspherical glass lenses: Pimax uses aspherical glass lenses for the lenses. These offer some advantages, such as less glare and a lower required brightness, but have to make some compromises in other areas, such as the relatively high weight. Here you can find an information video from Pimax: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2hQgcgWeMM
Adjustable headband and rotary wheel on the back: There is a manually adjustable headband on the top of the headset which, in conjunction with a rotary knob on the back, fixes the headset securely on the user’s head. However, due to the not exactly low weight of approx. 800 grams, the headset is relatively top-heavy and a large part of the weight is absorbed via the cheek/nose area. For sessions of up to two hours, however, this was not a problem in the test, but heavy users will sooner or later want one or two comfort mods such as thicker padding.
Mechanically adjustable eye distance: In order to use the glasses sensibly, you need to know your eye distance and select the appropriate setting using the mechanical adjustment. The process is completed in just a few seconds using the dial.
Variable refresh rate: The headset can be operated with different refresh rates (72Hz / 90Hz / 120Hz), with 90Hz proving to be a good compromise between a smooth picture and performance during testing.
Buttons: There are three buttons in the top right-hand corner of the headset (Attention sim racers with high-quality steering wheels: The actuation feel is not very satisfying).
Integrated microphone and loudspeaker: The headset has integrated loudspeakers as standard and is also equipped with a microphone. However, both features should be seen more as an absolute basic solution, as they do not provide a real racetrack feeling or high-quality voice playback via voice chat.
6DoF Inside-Out Tracking: In order to always be aligned in the correct position, the headset relies on inside-out tracking without the additionally available lighthouse faceplate (used in combination with base stations), which works very well in practice.

Pimax and Simracing

VR has been an integral part of simracing for years and the leading simulation games almost universally offer VR support. In the recent past, Pimax has also clearly focussed on simracing and was, for example, the only manufacturer represented at the largest simracing expo of the year (Simracing Expo Dortmund). This, not least in combination with the active Discord server with its own simracing area and various racing-related competitions, emphasises the manufacturer’s ambitions with regard to our hobby.

Software

The topic of software and software support is and remains a key issue when it comes to sim racing with a VR headset. While most sims now offer basic support, both the quality of the implementation and the problems with installation vary greatly.

Pimax Play

Central to the Pimax Crystal Light VR headset is the in-house software Pimax Play, where you can make basic settings and update the headset’s firmware. You can also set the Hz of the headset and make settings for brightness, local dimming and more. With the latest version (October 2024) of the software, it is now also possible to run OpenXR directly via the Pimax software. This worked very well in the test and was used for all simulations.

OpenXR

As already mentioned, OpenXR, an open source software that has been on the market since 2017 and is supported by most VR headsets and apps (sometimes via workarounds), was used for the majority of the review and is therefore becoming an increasingly popular choice for powerful VR applications.

For additional ease of use and further options for upscaling and sharpening, foveated rendering, image post-processing and other game-enhancing tweaks comes the OpenXR Toolkit. This toolkit can also be used to define in-game shortcuts to make various settings. The following options are particularly noteworthy

FPS overlay: Here you can display the FPS and the corresponding frametimes divided into different areas (GPU / CPU). This is the best way to recognise whether an application is running with CPU or GPU limitations. This overlay is particularly important when setting up a new simulation.
Resolution override: This is probably the most important option for influencing performance across the board
(Fixed) Foveated rendering: This splits the visible area into different parts that are run at different resolutions. The peripheral field of view is then rendered with a significantly reduced resolution. Depending on the setting of the radii and the strength, performance can be significantly increased without affecting the visible image too much. It is important to find a healthy balance when using this option. Caution: Foveated rendering is CPU-intensive and can therefore even be counterproductive depending on the application.
Record statistics: If this option is activated, detailed performance statistics are saved in the form of Excel tables.
Shortcuts: Keyboard shortcuts can be defined in the toolkit to navigate through the parameters (and take screenshots, for example).

For applications that do not natively support OpenXR (e.g. Assiette Corsa), the OpenComposite software is used to be able to use SteamVR-compatible games via OpenXR.

The corresponding downloads and further information on the software can be found here:

OpenXR Toolkit: https://mbucchia.github.io/OpenXR-Toolkit/
OpenComposite: https://gitlab.com/znixian/OpenOVR

Performance requirements and settings

Due to its enormous resolution, the Pimax Crystal Light VR headset is also extremely demanding in terms of the hardware used. An absolute high-end graphics card is required, especially for titles without a CPU limit. Pimax itself specifies at least the following components for a ‘best experience’:

GPU: RTX 4070 Ti, RTX 4070 Ti S, RTX 4080, RTX 4080 S, RTX 4090, RX 7900XT, RX 7900XTX.

CPU: i7-12700/F, i7-12700K/KF, i5-13600K/KF, i5-14600K/KF, i9-12900K/KF, i7-13790F, i7-14790F, i9-12900KS, i7-13700K/KF, i7-14700K/KF, i9-13900K/KF, i9-13900KS, i9-14900K/KF, i9-14900KS, Threadripper 7980X, Threadripper 7970X, Threadripper 7960X, Threadripper 3990X, Threadripper 3970X, Threadripper 3960X, Ryzen 9 7950X3D, Ryzen 9 7900X3D, Ryzen 9 7800X3D, Ryzen 9 7950X, Ryzen 9 7900X, Ryzen 9 7900, Ryzen 7 5800X3D.

Test system

The following system from Medion is used as the test PC:

CPU: Intel® Core™ i7-14700K
GPU NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 4080
SSD: 1 TB WD BLACK SN850X NVMe™-SSD
RAM: 32 GB Kingston® Fury Beast RGB DDR5 6.000 MHz

iRacing

The simulation iRacing offers native VR compatibility and is one of the most popular VR titles. OpenXR can be selected as the rendering method directly via the display mode menu. There are a few things to bear in mind with the settings, e.g. the following options should only be used with great caution:

MSAA Samples
Cockpit Mirrors
HDR

There is currently an active thread in the official iRacing forum that suggests various further optimisations and provides a very good basis for further settings: https://forums.iracing.com/discussion/46180/pimax-crystal-settings-research-dfr-update-120fps-and-hdr-90fps/p1

The test system used can keep 90 FPS stable with the relatively low settings in iRacing in the vast majority of situations and only reaches its limits in extreme situations. The simulation runs very stably and in the single-player sessions you can then increase the settings quite a bit, depending on the track. In principle, all you have to do is bind the ‘Recenter VR Headset’ function in the game and you’re ready to go.

Assetto Corsa (CM)

Even though Assetto Corsa is already a little older, it remains one of the most popular sim racing titles for VR headsets, not least because of the many mods available. As OpenXR is not natively supported here, the OpenComposite software is used in addition to the OpenXR toolkit. To start the simulation, you can either select OpenVR as the rendering mode via the normal in-game environment or alternatively use the Content Manager to also use OpenVR as a setting there.

Thanks to the good performance of Assetto Corsa, the parameters can be set very high without causing serious performance problems. Here, too, there were no failures or other difficulties during the entire test run after installation.

VR oder Bildschirm(e)

Immersion / Bildqualität

The main argument in favour of a VR headset is undoubtedly the unparalleled immersion. Especially in combination with a fixed rig and ideally a steering wheel that matches the selected vehicle class, the immersion is unrivalled and you feel like you’re sitting in a real cockpit from the very first second. This feeling of being right in the middle of the action is also what most distinguishes a VR headset from a normal monitor setup.

The image quality (the image captured through the lens cannot reproduce the image quality 100%) of the Pimax Crystal Light is now at such a good level thanks to the combination of high resolution and aspherical glass lens that the immersion is not broken by blurred textures or similar interference. Especially in direct comparison to lower-resolution headsets such as a Meta Quest 3 or a Reverb G2 headset, the Crystal Light offers an image quality that is currently hard to beat.

Pace

The topic of Racepace and VR can basically be divided into different areas.

As a beginner without much simracing experience, you generally need less time with a VR headset to familiarise yourself and complete your first fast laps. The real field of vision makes it much easier to estimate distances and the driving experience is much more intuitive and realistic.
As an experienced simracer switching from a normal monitor setup, you will need some time to familiarise yourself, but then you will be back to your old speed relatively quickly. Especially with vehicles that you have rarely or never driven before, a VR headset helps enormously to get into the rhythm.
E-sports / Top 1%: The situation is different at the absolute top. Here, with a few exceptions, the consistency that can be achieved with a monitor setup that is always 100% reproducible prevails for most drivers. But here too, the result ultimately depends on the driver.

Hardware-Performance

A VR headset with a resolution as high as that of the Crystal Light requires absolute high-end hardware and even then, depending on the simulation, you still have to accept certain compromises. Monitor setups (e.g. 32:9 ultrawide with 5120 x 1440 pixels or triple screen with 7680 x 1440 pixels) are simply much less performance-hungry here. For the Pimax Crystal Light, you definitely need an absolute high-end system to get your money’s worth.

Plug & Play aspect

One point where a VR headset naturally does not perform so well is the plug & play aspect. This applies both to set-up, which can be very complex due to the large number of possible options and software solutions, and to normal operation. Here, you are cut off from the outside world by the VR glasses and have to prepare drinks so that you have them to hand before longer sessions, for example. However, once you have overcome this initial point, which can be particularly difficult for beginners, a VR headset offers unrivalled immersion.

On the plus side, the headset can be operated via the almost 5 metre long cable, so that you can set up your rig separately from the PC and are not reliant on a built-in battery.

Price

If you look at the price of the Pimax Crystal Light in isolation, it doesn’t seem particularly low at first glance at around €1000. However, if you compare the price with a triple or ultrawide setup with the corresponding monitor mounts, the price is at a comparable level.

Driving impression

Conclusion

With the Pimax Crystal Light VR headset, Pimax currently offers one of the most attractive solutions for simracing in VR and combines a good software implementation with fantastic image quality thanks to a resolution of 2880 x 2880 pixels per eye in conjunction with aspherical glass lenses.

If you can cope with the enormous power consumption of the approx. 800g VR headset and are prepared to get involved with VR, the Pimax Crystal Light is an outstanding VR headset that allows you to experience racing in a way that is otherwise only possible on the real race track.