The reality of virtual reality

Virtual reality (VR) has recently become established as a suite of technologies capable of serving many companies′ future needs in design practice, training and organizational communication. Two years after the launch of a major British collaborative project involving 17 blue‐chip companies, VR is set to become adopted by many as their“information technology of choice” for the next century– some even aiming to establish in‐house facilities before the end of 1996. Proposes that, properly implemented, VR is capable of giving personnel at all company levels, who have a wide variety of educational backgrounds or skills, intuitive access to complex, computer‐mediated processes. Discusses some of the practical solutions to a commercially‐driven selection of demonstrator projects, while attempting to dispel some of the myths associated with VR, such as the necessity to don head‐mounted displays and instrumented gloves.