Virtual reality: The real game-changer

If Facebook is taking Virtual Reality seriously, then there must be something interesting for us to take note of. Jaguar Land Rover, the luxury automotive division of Tata Motors, is betting heavy on Virtual Reality. They have shipped advanced VR kits to all their dealers in North America. Why? To give their high-end clients a sneak peak of their latest car models even before the car starts shipping to the stores. Many real estate companies are taking serious note of VR for their business.

In these times of demonetisation and cost-cutting, real estate companies are facing a challenge of getting customers. VR is getting popular in the real estate space because the prospective customers can actually get a feeling of the house. 

Right from the time they enter the community to walking on the roads to the house, entering the house and visiting all the rooms and even getting out on the balcony and see the scenery. Gone are the days of showing photographs of the property or the blueprint of the layout plan. 

The customers now control what they want to see and it gives them a realistic feel of the experience even before a single brick has been laid. 

Most builders have a sample house already built in at the property to give the customers a feel. But this is advantageous only for people who live in the city and can travel to the property. 

However, VR lets any person anywhere in the world to experience the house and this helps the companies target the lucrative NRI market. Holiday companies like Sterling Holidays are already toying this with the idea of VR as a sales tool to give prospective members an opportunity to explore their properties.  

For the customers, signing up for a 25-year contract can be a tough decision and VR makes it easy for them to visualise all the properties and helps them take an educated decision. Of course, an area where VR will have the biggest impact is in gaming. It gives the participants a truly immersive and captivating experience. 

The big hockey stick growth will come when the VR kits become affordable. As the adoption increases globally, the prices of the VR sets will naturally become affordable. Currently, the high-end VR kits are fairly expensive. 

Facebook’s Oculus Rift costs nearly Rs.80,000 which can be out of reach for most casual users. Samsung’s Gear VR is a lot more affordable at below Rs.10,000. 

Google’s Cardboard and Microsoft’s Hololens are very affordable. Many private companies are jumping on the bandwagon and the market will get very competitive which is good news for the consumers and for the wide adoption of VR.