It turns out the Vive Pro wasn’t the only updated hardware HTC launched yesterday.
Though it didn’t make much of a song and dance about it, the second iteration of the HTC Vive Trackers are now available to buy through HTC’s website. HTC’s Shen Ye confirmed that the Trackers on sale now are indeed the newest versions of the device that are compatible with both the original base stations as well as the upcoming SteamVR 2.0 base stations. Other than that they’re still the exact same base stations at the exact same price of $99 with no new features.
If it says Tracker (2018), yep!
— Shen Ye (@shen) March 20, 2018
You can tell if a Tracker is the newest version based on the Vive logo. It’s blue on the new version and white on the old one. They’re also labeled at Vive Tracker (2018) in HTC’s online store. They’re currently in stock but who knows how long that will last. The makes these the first piece of consumer VR technology compatible with SteamVR 2.0, which should be arriving later this year.
Trackers are attached to real-world objects that you want to virtualize and bring into VR. Some developers have attached them to tennis rackets, for example, for realistic sports simulators. Two Trackers can also be attached to your feet and one to your waist to bring full-body tracking into compatible games like Island 359.
