Six Flags teams up with Samsung for virtual reality roller coasters

03.03.2016
Six Flags roller coasters in nine U.S. parks will soon will try and jazz up the experience by letting you wear a Gear VR headset. During the ride you’ll co-pilot a fighter jet or zip through the skies with Superman. The movements are designed to sync with the real-life roller coaster.

Six Flags published a full list about which parks will get the headsets. Riders will have the option of wearing them during the roller coaster ride, but won’t have to if they’d rather see the actual scenery. 

Because this is a rather uncharted territory, Six Flags put out an FAQ that covers some of the questions riders might have, like how susceptible this might make them to motion sickness or picking up a virus.

Six Flags says all parts that touch a rider’s face will be, “covered with an anti-microbial leather and cleansed between every use with anti-bacterial wipes.” 

Why this matters: This type of VR integration is definitely a first, but in the bigger picture it’s clearly a sign of how VR is going mainstream. This is a big coup for Samsung, which gets to expose millions of park visitors to its Gear VR headset. Since it works with Samsung Galaxy phones, it’s a clever bit of marketing that is probably worth every penny the company paid.

(www.greenbot.com)

By IDG News Service Staff