Ultrawide vs VR Sim Racing Comparison: Which Is More Immersive?

Sim racers often strive for immersion with ever growing and expanding sim racing setups. It may start with a humble budget racing wheel. But before long, you can quickly find yourself sitting in an 8020 sim rig, with a class-leading direct drive wheel and pedal combination.

This is the slippery slope of sim racing, and one of the core reasons for upgrading is immersion. Sitting behind a wheel, in a realistic racing seat is one piece of this puzzle. But how you see the on track action is another.

Choosing the best monitor or display setup is crucial. You could opt for a single large monitor or TV, a triple screen setup or ultrawide monitor to wrap around you. Or a completely immersive VR headset.

It is the last two options I want to explore in this sim racing buyer’s guide. Which is better for sim racing immersion, an ultrawide monitor or a VR headset.

Ultrawide monitor vs VR headset comparison overview

The topic of choosing an ultrawide monitor or VR headset sits very close to my heart. I sim race with a Samsung G9 ultrawide which wraps around my sim rig. However, I have a few VR headsets sitting around as well such as the Pimax Crystal Super.

To quickly compare both options, below is a head-to-head comparison

	VR Headset	Ultrawide
Starting price	From £289	From £450
Average price	£720	£700
Minimum PC requirements	High-end gaming PC	Mid-range gaming PC
In-game immersion	Very high	Improved compared to 16:9 ratio
Best options	Pimax Crystal Light	Samsung G9

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Pros and cons of VR

Virtual reality has long been the champion of immersion in gaming, especially in genres such as racing and flight sims. This is because it offers a unique benefit of being able to explore your environment in a way that is much harder on a typical gaming monitor.

Pro: Looking at cars and objects around you while on track

This is incredibly prevelant while sim racing. You can quickly take glances left and right to see other cars around you on track. You can look around your cockpit to see various displays or glance in your mirrors.

These are all aspects that are almost impossible to do when not sim racing in VR. Yes, you can map buttons on your steering wheel to look left or right. But these require both an in-game input rather than a natural quick glance to one side. And the left and right cameras don’t often offer a realistic or helpful view out of your car.

Pro: VR headsets don’t require a lot of space

Many sim racers choose for a complete dedicated sim rig which can take up a lot of space. However, many will opt for a smaller wheel stand or to fix a racing wheel to a desk. In these situations, a large ultrawide gaming monitor just may be too big.

A VR headset really shines in this department, as it is tiny compared to a monitor. It fits directly to your head, with very little else required other than a cable linked to your PC. A VR headset takes up very little room, making it an incredibly versatile solution if you are limited on space.

Con: Sim racing in VR requires a high-end gaming PC

One big negative for VR gaming in general, is that it often requires an impressive gaming PC to fully utilise. While, budget VR headsets such as the Meta Quest have on-board processing and do not necessarily require a powerful PC. For sim racing, this is very much the case.

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To sim race in titles such as iRacing, ACC, Le Mans Ultimate or the F1 games, in VR, you’re going to need a powerful GPU. This is because a VR headset simultaneously renders two images, one for each eye.

With display resolutions often stretching over 2880 x 2880 per eye, you can quickly see why gaming in VR is more demanding than on a regular 1080p or even 4K monitor.

High-end VR headset brands such as Pimax often state that a minimum GPU requirement is around the RTX 3080 mark. This in itself is a fairly pricey mid to high-end graphics card. However, from personal testing, to really maximise the visual fidelity, and not have to lower most graphics settings, an RTX 4090 should be your goal.

Con: Clarity of image can be lower than a static display

That leads me onto my next con for VR, and that is the lack of clarity in some images. This is especially true if your gaming PC is just meeting the minimum requirements of a game. In these situations, you’ll often have to lower in game graphics settings, and this alone will make various elements hard to read.

Viewing your car’s dashboard with accuracy can be much harder in VR than on a static display. At times I often found it hard to view data such as lap times, positional data, or my tyre temperatures.

What is the best VR headset for sim racing?

Our recommended VR headset for sim racing is the Pimax Crystal Super. This is a high-end headset, with incredible specs.

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Pros and Cons of ultrawide monitors

Now let’s look closer at ultrawide monitors for sim racing, including their pros and cons. Now, ultrawide monitors benefit in a few areas compared to either standard 16:9 monitors and triple screens.

Pro: Better field of view

The main benefit over a standard monitors is that they offer a much wider field of view. The 32:9 aspect ratio of a monitor like the Samsung G9 lets you adjust the FOV in-game so you are sitting in a much more realistic position.

This wider field of view also lets you see more of your car, and more of the on-track action around your car. Compared to a regular 16:9 monitor, this can give you a big advantage.

Con: Often cuts off mirrors

Despite the wider aspect ratio, an ultrawide monitor still lacks the wrap-around ability to show you the full extent of the action. When set to a realistic field of view, your side mirrors are often cut off, meaning you’ll still have to rely on positional markers or the look left or right buttons.

This is where a VR headset has the advantage in that you can freely look around the cockpit and into your mirrors.

Pro: Better design and more aesthetically pleasing

One real perk for ultrawide monitors is how they look. They are often very aesthetically pleasing with sleek lines and curves that wrap around your cockpit. When not sim racing, this is a very pleasant design, especially compared to triple screens which often times look bulky and clumsy.

Best ultrawide monitor for sim racing

My recommended ultrawide monitor is the one I use myself, the Samsung G9. It combines an excellent form factor, stunning display and an average price.

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Which is best for sim racing, VR or ultrawide?

Choosing between a VR headset or ultrawide monitor is often a choice of preference. For many sim racers, VR racing isn’t ideal as it doesn’t provide the competitive edge. While, I’d say it does win out on immersion and outright realism, many sim racers will be slower compared to racing with a static display.

However, over time, this gap in performance on track will shrink, and you can often be as quick racing in VR. If you can get to this point, and do strive for immersion, I’d highly recommend VR sim racing. But those grinding out their iRating, or racing competitively online, an ultrawide would be a better choice.

The best VR headsets

Situation	Best option
Best value for money	VR
Best for lower-end PCs	Ultrawide
Best for overall immersion	VR
Best for lap time performance	Ultrawide

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Frequently Asked Questions

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• Written by Rich Article updated on May 20, 2026 Tags: Buyers Guide, Pimax, Sim Racing Product Guides

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