What's virtual reality without a little real-life sweat?
Kat VR is releasing an omnidirectional gaming treadmill for people who want to play virtual reality games while also getting their cardio in for the day.
The upcoming KAT Walk C 2 treadmill is a lot like the treadmill from the movie Ready Player One, which appears to have been a big influence. Like the movie version, the Walk C 2 has a harness that connects you to the treadmill so you can run and turn without losing balance.
The harness allows for a wide array of motion. You can crouch, lean forward, duck, strafe, and even jump. It’s also pretty fast and accurate with latency that is, according to Kat VR, less than 10 ms and distance accuracy of less than a millimeter.
If you ever get too lazy to run or the distance is too long, the Walk C 2 has a cruise control mode, which lets your in-game character move in a straight line with little input. All you have to do is stick your foot out in front of you and it activates.
There’s also the Walk C 2 Plus model that adds haptic feedback where the footpad simulates walking on a hard floor, and multiple vehicle modes to simulate the vibration of a moving car. The Plus model adds a chair in case you get tired.
As for titles, the Walk C 2 supports all of the major VR headsets and 129 games across multiple platforms like Fallout 4 VR and Payday 2.
One size doesn’t fit all
There are some restrictions, however. It appears you’ll need special shoes, In all of the promotional material, players are running around in them. Fortunately, a pair of these shoes come with the purchase.
The Walk C 2 is 62 inches tall, weighs 125 pounds, and has a circumference of 12.91 square feet. There are player size restrictions. Kat VR recommends players be between 63 inches to 77 inches tall and that they weigh no more than 286 pounds.
This interesting piece of gamer tech will start at $698 as part of an early bird special sale. There will be a Kickstarter campaign launching for the Walk C 2 on May 14. Kat VR held one for the first Walk C, which had multiple payment tiers that added multiple treadmills and pairs of shoes.
