Virtual reality gives recruits the Jack Trice experience

Thanks to a joint effort between the Iowa State Athletic Department and Virtual Reality Applications Center, recruits can experience game day at Jack Trice Stadium with the C6 virtual reality room.

According to ISU Virtual Reality Applications Center Director James Oliver, the C6 is the only one in the United States and the second in the world, with the other at King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

“This is the world’s highest resolution fully immersive VR system,” Oliver said. “There’s two like it, but our’s is slightly better.”

Located on campus in Howe Hall, the C6 is a 10-foot-by-10-foot-by-10-foot room in which images are projected on all four walls, the ceiling, and the floor. There are 48 computers, each with two graphics cards, all working together to display more than 16.7 million pixels on each of its six surfaces. Combine that with 3D shutter glasses and speakers mounted around the room, and potential recruits can receive a fully immersive Jack Trice Stadium experience.

“Not many schools have the ability to completely put you in that experience,” Oliver said.

Though it is obviously falls second to actually being in Jack Trice on a Saturday in front of 60,000-plus fans, Oliver said the C6 is not only able to highlight the athletic facilities at ISU, but the type of work and research that is being done in the engineering program.

“The athletic facilities are top-notch at Iowa State, and I think they (recruits) get a feel for that. The environment is tremendous for a home game, so as a recruit that’s exciting,” Oliver said. “But this is also a top-notch engineering school and a fantastic facility, so if we have student-athletes that want to get a major in that, this is a tremendous place to do it.”

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