The future of virtual reality? Oculus Rift lets you train with the England Rugby team

Want to know what it feels like to train with the England rugby squad? Without picking up an absolute shedload of bruises? Well, that's exactly what the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset can offer you.

So here I am, jogging out onto the training pitch at Twickenham. I've just been welcomed to the side as part of a team talk from captain Chris Robshaw in the home side dressing room. I'm surrounded by the squad, and entering a session led by legendary coach Mike Catt. I can hear conversations between the other players around me, as well as my own slightly nervous heavy breathing.

Looking around, I can see the other players - Danny Care, Joe Launchbury - looking expectantly at me. All of a sudden, I'm involved in a passing drill, receiving the ball, running in a zig-zag for five yards, then passing it on.

Except...I'm not really doing this. I'm standing in the Yahoo office canteen, getting odd looks (it later transpires) from some chaps in sales. I'm wearing an Oculus Rift headset, and a pair of Beats by Dre professional headphones. This gear is hooked up to a Macbook pro laptop, which is powering the virtual world I find myself in.

And what a world. Once you've gone through a brief calibration - basically, looking at a set of targets so that it fixes the horizon at the correct point - you're immersed in a bright, sunny day in South West London.

The Oculus Rift system gives you genuine 360-degree vision - it's not blurry, lagging or obviously pixellated. If you stare at a fixed point you can tell it's not photorealistic, but it's very good.

The realism of demo displays like this rugby training experience is ensured by the fact that it really is real - or at least, it was. The whole thing has been filmed using a custom set of no fewer than seven cameras, to guarantee there are no gaps in your virtual vision.

O2, which as sponsors of England Rugby is behind the project, worked with film producers specialising in drone-piloted cameras from London-based film studio Unit 9.

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Drone camera systems typically use a stabilising device known as a gimbal. They keep filming smooth and steady in bumpy environments. Typically, however, filmmakers only use one gimbal camera at a time. O2 and Oculus Rift needed seven GoPro Hero HD3 cameras filming in unison.

After a few days of intense redesigning, 3D prototyping and testing, a 7-way gimbal was ready. For the filming, a particularly short cameraman was required to carry the seven-way mount on his head, and run through all the rugby drills - including being tackled several times.

In total, 160 hours of filming was combined to make the 'Wear the Rose' experience.

You can't move around in the virtual world - you're essentially on a fixed 'track', with interactivity coming from where you look around. You're following the path taken by the original cameraman. But it's very impressive nonetheless. Despite the reality of the experience, some of the nicest touches are in the sphere of 'augmented reality' - layers of information you can only get with a bit of technical support.

For example, look across at a particular player and you'll see a label appear in mid-air, with their name, age, position and number of England caps. When the ball is kicked up for you to chase down, you can look up and see its trajectory mapped out, allowing you to focus on 'making the catch'.
 
Best of all - unless you're a real glutton for punishment - is that you can't feel the crashing impact as you get tackled to the ground by Mike Brown. You'll have to imagine having the air knocked out of you, the bruises and the sensation of total inferiority.

Anyone will be able to sample the Oculus Rift 'Wear the Rose' experience later this year at O2 stores, beginning in June. O2 Priority customers can sign up for a demo now. For more info click here.