Oculus launched the Touch motion controllers, which complement the Rift VR HMD, in December 2016. We tested Oculus’s motion controllers before launch and found Oculus’s Constellation tracking system robust and precise. Our experience with the controllers isn’t universal, though. Many people have reported tracking problems with their new Touch controllers.
The Oculus forums (opens in new tab) and Oculus subreddit are filled with complaints from Touch owners experiencing tracking issues. Many of the complaints come from users running Oculus’s experimental tjhree-sensor setup and unapproved four-sensor configurations, which could be caused by USB bandwidth issues. Oculus recently published a series of tips to help ensure that your sensor setup isn’t overloading your motherboard’s USB controllers, and that your sensor placement is ideal, but the company acknowledged that it could improve the experience with software.
At least one Reddit user reported that Oculus support told him that a software update is coming in January, and on January 21, 2017, Nate Mitchell, Oculus’s VP of Product, confirmed the validity of that claim. Mitchell chimed into a discussion on Reddit about Oculus tracking issues and noted that the company is working on a driver update that addresses some of the tracking inconsistencies that some people are experiencing.
“Just wanted to let everyone know that we have a set of improvements to tracking, particularly for some multi-sensor configurations, that are slated for the upcoming January update,” said Mitchell. “We're keeping a close eye on tracking quality, and we'll continue addressing any issues we uncover as quickly as possible.”
Unfortunately, Oculus wasn’t able to finish the software update in time to release it in January. Mitchell returned to Reddit in the late evening of January 30 to announce that it's taking the company longer than expected to iron out the bugs.
“The January Rift update is taking a little longer than we expected in terms of testing,” said Mitchell. “We're working to get it out to everyone as soon as possible. Appreciate everyone's patience.”
Oculus delayed that January update, but that doesn’t mean the company is skipping the release. Oculus’s software team is ironing out the kinks from the January update while simultaneously preparing for the February update. “And yes, this means there's very likely two updates in February,” said Mitchell.