Meta is showing off its latest virtual reality prototypes, and one of them, codenamed “Tiramisu,” is aiming for a level of realism that’s almost indistinguishable from the real world. The company is calling it “hyperrealistic VR,” and the specs are impressive, even if the design is still a long way from being consumer-friendly.
The Tiramisu headset boasts some incredible numbers. It has three times the contrast, 14 times the brightness, and 3.6 times the resolution of the current Meta Quest 3. The goal, according to Meta’s research team, is to create a visual experience so real it could pass a “visual Turing test,” meaning you wouldn’t be able to tell if what you’re seeing is real or virtual.
“Our mission for this project was to provide the best image quality possible,” said Xuan Wang, one of the optical research scientists working on the project.
But to achieve that stunning image quality, the team had to make some big compromises. The prototype has a very limited field of view, so you can’t see as much of the virtual world at once. And then there’s the size. As you can see from the pictures, the current version of Tiramisu is a bulky beast, a far cry from the sleek headsets Meta hopes to one day sell.
Meta also showed off a few other prototypes, including some with a much wider field of view. All of these new headsets will be on display at a major tech conference next week, giving us a glimpse into the future of virtual reality.
