Anyone who's tried on a consumer virtual reality headset in the last two decades knows how far short that technology has fallen from its promise. A good VR device should track head motion and alter the images relayed to each eye in real time. Anything less than that breaks the illusion of virtual presence; your brain knows how the world is supposed to look when you move your head, and when the effect fails it's disturbing and even nauseating for some users. So far, that broken reality has been the norm for VR, and the technology has stalled.

The Oculus Rift is supposed to be the system that changes all that. It comes equipped with 3D-stereoscopy, lag-free visuals, and precision head tracking. Of course, techies have followed every detail of the product's development (and every video of a beta-tester freaking out on the internet) with mounting glee.

So, when I got invited to play Elite: Dangerous on the Oculus Rift Development Kit 2—the most advanced VR headset yet to emerge from the Oculus labs—I'll admit I was more interested in testing out the hardware than the game. Sitting sandwiched between Elite CEO/designer David Braben (also of the Rollercoaster Tycoon trilogy) and his vaguely Cumberbatchian PR manager, Michael Gapper, on a small couch in a New York City hotel room, I felt a strong urge to blaze through the video game interview to try on the Oculus hardware.