Riding a roller coaster just got a whole lot more real with virtual reality

Samsung Gear VR Six Flags rollercoaster
Samsung Gear VR Six Flags rollercoaster

The next time you're being strapped into a roller coaster, you may also have a Samsung Gear VR strapped to your face for a radically different 360-degree virtual reality experience.

That's the ambitious plan behind Six Flags' Virtual Reality Roller Coaster, thanks to a newly announced partnership between the theme park and the maker of Samsung Galaxy S7.

Nine of its roller coasters are being outfitted with VR headsets, including parks in Los Angeles, New York and Texas, on rides like New Revolution, Dare Devil Dive and Shock Wave.

Season Pass holders will be able to take advantage of the fully immersive roller coaster ride first through a special peak starting as early as March 10 in Arlington, Texas.

What's it going to be like?

Six of the Six Flags coasters depict a futuristic aerial battle against an alien invasion. Riders act as the co-pilot and endure swan dives and thrusters with every drop and loop.

Even better, they can fire weapons with the VR headset, which technically makes this the first-ever interactive gameplay technology on a roller coaster.

Three of Six Flags' Superman roller coaster rides virtually transport riders to the comic book world of Metropolis and the Man of Steel soars through the air in an effort to battle Lex Luthor.

It won't get you sick

Some people get sick using VR headsets. Others get sick on roller coasters. Six Flags claims that its virtual reality roller coasters won't be a puke-inducing combination of the two.

The 360-degree visuals are finely tuned so that everything you see is synced precisely with the coaster's drops, twists and turns, according to the theme park company.

"There is no motion sickness as some might expect," proclaims Six Flags on its official website. "Unlike watching the visuals while standing still, there should be no adverse effect."

It won't allow children under 12 to wear the headset due to the manufacturer's guidelines, and wearing a Samsung Gear VR is not a requirement of any VR-enhanced roller coaster.

Six Flags has tweaked the Samsung Gear VR headset to - very wisely - add a chinstrap and a lanyard, just in case the existing straps straps over and around your head aren't enough.

Matt Swider
Latest in Virtual Reality & Augmented Reality
Snap Spectacles 5
Latest Snap Spectacles update teases an exciting AR future that I can't wait for
Project Moohan prototype at Samsung Galaxy Unpacked, an XR goggles headset on display in a show area
Samsung's Android XR headset could avoid the Apple Vision Pro's biggest mistake, according to this leak
Vision Pro Metallica
Apple Vision Pro goes off to never never land with Metallica concert footage
The Ray-Ban Meta Coperni smart glasses
The new Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses design is an expensive disappointment
The Meta Quest Pro on its charging pad on a desk, in front of a window with the curtain closed
Samsung, Apple and Meta want to use OLED in their next VR headsets – but only Meta has a plan to make it cheap
The new limited edition Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses show a translucent design.
Ray-Ban and Meta just teased new limited-edition smart glasses – but they'll be in frustratingly short supply
Latest in News
Pebble smartwatch countdown
Pebble confirms its smartwatch announcement is just hours away
Google DeepMind panel discussion
“More sovereignty and protection” - Google goes all-in on UK AI with data residency, upskilling projects, and startup investments
An image of the Nintendo Switch 2
Nintendo Switch 2 likely to have AI upscaling similar to PS5 Pro’s PSSR according to patent, and it could be a gamechanger for graphics on the upcoming console
PowerColor Red Devil AMD RX 9070 XT graphics card shown side-on
Your next GPU could be from AMD, not Nvidia, if Team Red’s success with PC gamers continues
Intel Lunar Lake concept
Intel's Panther Lake processors won't arrive until Q1 2026 - corroborates previous delay rumors despite former Intel CEO's promise of 2025 launch
Quordle on a smartphone held in a hand
Quordle hints and answers for Tuesday, March 18 (game #1149)