Full combat tutorial in VR

Release 3.2.0 of the R.E.A.L. mod for Cyberpunk 2077 (which will be attached to the next post today) brings many improvements to the VR conversion, and as announced it also introduces a new interaction model for the HUD.

Since there is so much new stuff, and they say a video is worth a thousand screenshots (or something like that, can't remember) I decided to record my realtime gameplay of the full combat simulation tutorial, which was one of the most problematic sections of the game in previous releases due to its using many different combat mechanics and presenting lots of new information in the HUD at all times. The recording was done straight from the mod, using its internal virtual OBS source in SteamVR mode.

The footage was shot in one take, so forgive me a few noob moments, like when I go in the wrong direction with the surveillance camera ^_^

• 0:00 In awe of the vertical virtual world.
• 0:53 "Combat Basics" section.
• 1:03 First demonstration of the new interaction model. When you look at grabbable objects, the HUD now becomes automatically headlocked, to avoid the former problem where stuff lying on the floor would be almost impossible to examine and pick up. However, we all know how Cyberpunk 2077 likes to put its important information as far to the sides as possible, where no headset can keep things in focus.
  So, the mod will now recognize a new gesture: when the HUD is locked, if you tilt your head slightly to the left or right, the HUD will "slide" as if by gravity, pulling the useful info in the center of your view where it belongs (in the video of course it looks like the world is tilting in the opposite direction, but that's not how it feels in the headset).
  You'll see that it becomes second nature after only a few minutes, and it solves every problematic HUD interaction that I found in the game: looting, scanning, quick hacking, etc.
  Take note that the sliding trick will NOT work when you are holding your weapon: it's intentionally disabled to avoid distracting movements during combat. So if you find yourself tilting your head like a dog hearing strange noises and yet nothing seems to happen, please double check that your weapon is holstered!
• 1:11 No more "gun face" or "chin-firing"! As you can see I moved the camera to the correct position in relation to the gun, which will now be just visible in the lower part of your view when firing from the hip. 1:20 shows aiming down the sights, where the pistol is placed at the proper distance from the eye with arms fully extended. If you were using other mods to move the camera or the gun, please remove them at this point because they're no longer needed and will probably interfere. 1:33 for another demo of the sliding trick, to examine the M251S specs.
• 1:41 Shooting from cover. It's headshots all the way, babe! Note how at 1:52 I put away the weapon to be able to examine the MaxDoc with the tilt 'n slide gesture.
• 2:21 More shooting from low cover and showing off my mad skillz, and at 2:40 demo of the newly-fixed shooting around corners.
• 3:07 "Hacking" section.
• 3:50 Quick hacks! You can see how the tilt 'n slide works both ways, so you can easily bring into focus the list of quick hacks, and then just tilt your head the other way to read
  the info window on the right.
• 4:08 Whoops, lost my footing :-)
• 5:26 There is some important message in the lower left corner of the screen, but the HUD is headlocked and the crosshair is active, so the sliding trick won't work! Don't worry: for this situation a quick visit to the mod overlay will take you to the new "Free HUD for 5 seconds" button, which will briefly disable the headlocking and automatically bring you back to the game where you'll have a chance to look directly at the relevant info in the corners.
  This is also the page where you can now bind any key on your keyboard to the Recenter function, and where if you wish you can customize the HUD position and magnification.
• 5:43 Argh, another issue: some instructional tooltips are unreadable when the aspect ratio of the game is not 16:9 (not my bug, but still something I needed to fix). Again the mod overlay comes to the rescue with the "Disable black bars for 30 seconds" button, which will give you enough time to read all the overflowing hints.
• 6:56 "Stealth" section. Or, watch me fail.
• 8:59 "Advanced Combat" section: witness lots of punches, counter-punches, sword flailing, and at 12:58 me being unable to kill a robot left with only one health point :-P