Virtual Reality: The New Trend in Cricket

Virtual reality will change different areas of our lives, that’s for sure. The timing of a widespread diffusion remains to be understood, but the investments made by the largest global technological giants in this area leave little room for doubt. And yes, also in cricket, Virtual Reality will be a new trend. Let’s see in this article a little more about this topic.

What is Virtual Reality?

1957: Morton Heilig gave life to the Sensorama, a machine that allowed the viewer to live cinema as an experience. By putting the head inside this machine, in fact, it was possible to feel tactile sensations, as well as visual and auditory. Three years later Heiling patented the first real viewer, known as HMD – Head Mounted Display – and equipped with stereo headphones and a special hole to push air on the wearer’s face. An innovation that, however, has never been completed. We can really talk about virtual reality starting from 1977, year of birth at the MIT of Aspen Movie Map, a map that, from a certain point of view, we can consider a sort of first Google Maps as we know it today.

Virtual Reality, therefore, refers to any system that allows a user to feel a determined experience using special perception-changing tools. Virtual Reality or, as many called it, “VR” is merely an illusion of what reality really is.

Virtual Reality and Gaming

Even gaming is changing. Slowly and progressively, but it is changing. During 2017, the VR market in the gaming field has reached a value of 8.2 billion dollars. This is an impressive result that aims to grow more and more in the near future. We are not yet facing a revolution since Virtual Reality products are not yet so widespread in our daily lives; however, everyone seems to love this technology. Virtual Reality, in fact, projects the player in a world that he wants to visit and where the player wants to be a participant in the first person. And this happens with every type of game we can think of: Adventure, Fps, more classic games, etc. The goal is always the same: Involving the player.

All this is also easily applicable to more “niche” sectors of the gaming world, like the games dedicated to a more adult audience as can be the gambling and betting industry. The operators of this sector are in fact trying, too, to make the experience as real as possible. It is not easy to find new Australian betting sites that are legit, but the ones that exist are definitely working in this direction. Indeed, the experience should be more and more similar to real life.

Virtual Reality in Cricket

And yes, even in cricket Virtual Reality is taking up space. In February 2018, a revolutionary Virtual Reality Cricket Sport, called iB Cricket, developed by ProYuga Advanced Technologies, has been launched during the UP Investors’ Summit. With its unique format, it has been appreciated not only by the President of India Shri Ram Nath Kovind but also by players of the national Indian cricket team, like Virender Sehwag. Let’s keep in mind that cricket is the most popular sport in India.

Going to Europe, professor Cathy Craig, one of the world leaders in VR sports technology, developed in her laboratory at the Queen’s University Belfast a technology that allows professionals to improve their skills in the most audacious shots. The England and Wales Cricket Board was amazed by it and by the advantages that this represent for the players and their development.

Surely, Virtual Reality will take further giant steps not only in gaming but in general in every sector of daily life. And cricket will undoubtedly be involved. Let’s wait for it.