Playstation VR 2 now has hand tracking, but how good is it?
Waltz of the Wizard is the first game for Playstation VR 2 that supports hand tracking. We tried it out.
Sony first demonstrated hand tracking on Playstation VR 2 two months ago. Waltz of the Wizard is the first VR game to be updated with the technology, so you can try it out for yourself.
I installed Waltz of the Wizard this morning and played with the hand tracking for half an hour. Can it match the hand tracking of Meta Quest 3? You'll find out in the next few paragraphs.
Waltz of the Wizard: A perfect introduction to the world of hand tracking
Waltz of the Wizard is perfect for demonstrating hand tracking. It has been available in the Quest version since 2020, and Aldin Dynamics has been working on improving it ever since.
To use hand tracking in Waltz of the Wizard, simply set the Sense controllers aside. The system will automatically switch from controllers to hand tracking, and you will see a visual representation of your hands and fingers appear in front you.
Waltz of the Wizard is a wizard simulation game. You live in your tower and can interact with the objects in it in a variety of natural and magical ways. Waltz of the Wizard also features a campaign with a story and combat, but for my initial testing I stayed in the tower.
A great upgrade for PSVR 2 fans
I recorded a video of my experience with hand tracking (see below) to give you an idea of the quality.
My first impression is that the hand tracking works solidly and is hardly inferior to that of Quest 3. I didn't experience any tracking interruptions, gestures are well recognized, the latency is quite low, and the tracking volume seems to be large. Even very fast hand movements don't seem to throw the system off track, but I did notice a slight jitter in the hands and fingers at idle.
The limitations of Sony's hand tracking become apparent when you bring your hands together, which is an extremely complex task for the computer vision algorithms. When I put one hand behind the other, the tracking doesn't fail completely, but my virtual fingers start to move in ways that my real ones don't. Meta still has the edge here, but it doesn't seem to be a deal-breaker for Playstation VR 2 at the moment. All in all, it's impressive what Sony has done here with the PlayStation VR 2's sensors.
Before I can make a final judgement, I need to test the hand tracking a little longer and with other VR games and types of interaction. But based on my initial tests, I would say that hand tracking experiences like those in Quest 3 should now be technically possible with the PSVR 2 in comparable quality.
I hope that more PSVR 2 titles will implement Sony's hand tracking via an update, and that hand tracking gems like Maestro will come to Playstation VR 2.
You're probably wondering if you can use the PS5's user interface with hand tracking. Unfortunately, no, the feature is limited to games. In Waltz of the Wizard, however, you can access the game's settings by bringing together the thumb and index finger of your left hand, similar to Meta Quest.
The weaknesses of current hand tracking have not been eliminated
As solid as the hand tracking is, it's still far from perfect or a replacement for VR controllers, whether you're using a Quest 3 or PSVR 2.
Interactions often don't work as expected or are janky. Just try picking up the hand tracking handbook in the game and flipping through it without the book flying out of your hand. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. In the end, you have to learn how and where to grab a virtual object to make the hand tracking work. Of course, this is far from the ideal of intuitive interaction.
I found the locomotion and teleportation in Waltz of the Wizard to be well and naturally solved, while the snap turning feels a bit awkward (you can see examples of both in the video above). I'll have to try it out some more, but right now, I can't imagine moving around a world and exploring it for any length of time using hand tracking. Regardless of the technical perfection of hand tracking, developers will still have to solve fundamental software and design problems like these.
Despite these lingering issues, Sony definitely deserves a lot of praise for bringing hand tracking to the Playstation VR 2, making the system more future-proof and increasing the variety of experiences and games possible.
You can buy Waltz of the Wizard in the Playstation Store to get a taste of hand tracking on PSVR 2.
What do you think of hand tracking for PSVR 2? Join the conversation on Facebook, Bluesky or X or share your opinion in the comments below.
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