We visited Six Flags America in Maryland on June 21, to experience the Superman - Ride of Steel, Virtual Reality Coaster. Here's our review:
Due to the complicated boarding process, the single train that seats 30 people is dispatched approximately every 15 minutes, reducing the capacity of the ride to a very low 120 people per hour. Consequently the queues are going to be massive, for what is only a 2 minute ride, but we arrived early in the day so didn't wait too long.
You are handed a Samsung Gear VR headset, with a Galaxy S6 smartphone fitted inside, and once in the train you are asked to put this on and use the velcro straps to attach it firmly to your head. This is somewhat fiddly but you get the hang of it and staff are available to help.
The graphics were perfectly synced in the station, a bit blurry in places and you could see the pixels but still acceptable. You find yourself seated in a Metropolis Tours helicopter awaiting departure, if you look down you even see a representation of your body.
Once the roller coaster leaves the station the virtual reality experience begins immediately, with Lex Luthor's Lex Bots attacking you and Superman coming to to your rescue. However, during the first turn before the lift hill the graphics went out of sync with the ride, so we were looking in the wrong direction. This corrected itself part way up the lift hill but as soon as we began the first drop the graphics spiraled out of control and we had to close our eyes to avoid the disorientation. About half way through the ride it went to a black screen with an error.
Upon returning to the station it was apparent that it wasn't just us that had suffered from the technical problems and the ride operator didn't seem at all surprised. By this time the queue was very lengthy so we decided against giving it another go.
In comparison, Galactica at Alton Towers in the UK is a roller coaster that's fully dedicated to virtual reality, with a themed station, pre-ride video, photo opportunity, customized VR headsets that are fitted into the train, easier to put on and most importantly although the video quality is similar it is perfectly in sync throughout. This virtual reality roller coaster experience looks like a much cheaper version that has been bolted on to an otherwise pretty good hyper coaster.
Also in Gotham City at Six Flags America, the flying coaster BATWING and launched coaster THE JOKER's Jinx.
The other roller coasters at Six Flags America include Roar, The Mind Eraser, Apocalypse and Ragin' Cajun.
