PlayStation VR2 owners can play VR on PC without an adapter for $60, but there are some caveats

Sony has added PC VR support to PlayStation VR2. However, to play games you need an adapter, which costs $60. Recently, some headset owners reported on Steam that they were able to connect the device to a PC without having to purchase an official adapter. To do this, they used the legacy VirtualLink port, which is present on some video cards.

Image Source: Daniel Romero/Unsplash

As reported by IGN with reference to RoadToVR, users were able to run PSVR2 on their computers by simply connecting the headset’s USB-C cable directly to a graphics card with a VirtualLink port and downloading the PSVR2 application from Steam. VirtualLink is a type of USB-C port that was originally designed to make it easier to connect VR headsets to your PC, allowing you to use just one data cable.

VirtualLink, despite reports in 2018 and 2019 indicating that it would become the new standard in graphics cards, was not widely adopted and was considered obsolete. The port is present on some NVIDIA GeForce RTX 20 series and AMD Radeon RX 6000, RX 7000 and Radeon VII video cards. However, even among these models its presence is not guaranteed, since it was mostly found only in reference versions or from individual manufacturers. Newer video cards, such as the GeForce RTX 30 and 40 series, no longer use this port.

Image source: Digital Foundry/Eurogamer

Despite the potential to save $60, connecting the PSVR2 to a PC without an adapter has its own caveats. In particular, users are reporting problems connecting PlayStation VR2 Sense controllers via Bluetooth. Additionally, some features, such as haptic feedback and eye tracking, are not available when playing on PC. However, the ability to run games like Half-Life: Alyx is a significant benefit for headset owners, especially amid reports that Sony is cutting funding for VR projects.