VR treadmills are high tech that make you feel like you are in the future just by existing. I have dreamed of trying a VR treadmill for several years. The harness is big, the underglow is blue, and it's huge and unwieldy.

But let's face it. There isn't much in VR today that is particularly good or complex enough to feel good or true to life. But it doesn't have to be.

To begin with, everything about the Kat VR C2+ treadmill feels larger than it is. In my case, it came in several boxes spanning four different shipments, one of which required a pallet. It's huge and not hard to set up, but the parts are unwieldy and time consuming. There are frustrations, such as having to grind the coating off the screws to fit them in, which is even more time consuming.

I am not an elegant creature and got many bruises from assembling the heavy parts. On the positive side, witnessing the sturdy materials and assembling them myself gave me absolute confidence that I could happily throw myself into a harness even when strapped in. This is also very helpful, especially for a clumsy person like me.

When the Kat VR C2+ is installed in my small living space, the 1.2 meter footprint is dedicated to VR and feels larger than any other space. I need a little extra space to swing my arms around, because it hurts if I accidentally bump into a wall that is too close. When strapped in, I feel more confident in my movements than when using the untethered VR. I don't randomly bump my leg against the couch or fall without support. I still have to worry about over-extending my arms and bumping into a nearby TV, but otherwise, I feel safer on the treadmill in some ways.

It also works with a variety of VR headsets and configurations. I use it with a Meta Quest 2 linked to my PC and have no problems with all the linkages. With the Treadmill and Quest, there are no cables near the body. There is also a KatVR Nexus attachment that allows direct connection between the treadmill and the Meta headset. This is still new and not as good as the PC experience. You can't adjust the Kat settings without exiting the game, and it doesn't feel as smooth; very cool if you only have Quest, but definitely not as good as PC.

Any way you look at it, once the setup and connection is complete, the three sensors need to be charged and paired. Setup is not difficult, but it is something of a pain. Thankfully, these all charge from the treadmill itself, making it easy to manage. From there, strap in and get ready to feel even more silly than you've ever felt in VR.

Walking on one of these things absolutely requires a bit of understanding, but so far everyone I've introduced to it has grasped the basic concept within minutes. Special shoes are required, and only one pair is included with the treadmill, so if you have family members with different foot sizes, you may need to make an additional investment. The shoes have several Velcro tabs that provide more resistance to the base. Since sliding is so important on the treadmill, the best results are achieved by taking the shoes off altogether.

I have found different techniques depending on the match and what I want to accomplish, but it is kind of a run step plus a slide back. When in a free-flowing environment, this will feel very natural. How it feels is highly dependent on the game, as each game affects how well the treadmill is integrated. Usually, this is set up with bindings that replace the controller. For example, you could set the walk to stick.

When the game doesn't work well, it feels like typical, slightly janky VR. It's fun and novel, but not always enough for the effort. For example, walking and running around in Skyrim VR is a lot of fun, but it's a lot of work and doesn't feel like real movement. Especially in the high fantasy of The Elder Scrolls, the early stages are just a series of narrow hallways and stairs.

In No Man's Sky, on the other hand, you can really immerse yourself in the fantasy. Motion is smooth and tracking is far better than most, and you can explore the open planet most of the time. In addition, being connected to all the equipment makes the spacesuit far more mind-blowing. You will likely spend a lot of time getting lost exploring the world.

Using the VR treadmill is not difficult, but it is not easy either. Physical fitness and muscle strength are involved in how much you can do, whether it is stamina for a long session or strength for a specific movement; the Kat VR software has a section that records steps, activity levels, etc., which may be great for fitness, but using it There are a few barriers to use.

The treadmill also comes with a removable vehicle hub. This gets in the way of the Kat VR's sensor buttons and requires quite a bit of pushing, but is otherwise a welcome addition. Flip it down and you can sit down right away, which is super convenient when you need to rest a bit.

You can continue playing while sitting down using only the thumbstick on the controller, or you can twist and push with your feet to control the ride, depending on the settings; for games like "Skyrim VR" or "No Man's Sky," when moving to a mount or vehicle things feel a bit more natural without having to keep standing on a treadmill. But there are still plenty of little extras that detract from the experience, like finding your seat, pressing sensor buttons, and changing settings.

When everything works and you're in the moment, walking around the VR world is a wild and completely liberating feeling for this medium. There is definitely a bit of magic there to fool the brain, and I plan to try more games to find it. Currently, the Kat VR treadmill feels limited by the way it translates movement into games and my own fitness level.

The biggest question I keep asking myself about this device is whether I think this is the "future of VR," and I'm not sure yet. However, if I expand this question to "the future," the answer is definitely "the future. I have played VR games in a large warehouse and never have I felt as free and safe moving as I do inside this machine. For those who are serious about VR in a physical sense, I can't think of a better way to enhance the experience than the Kat VR C2 at the moment.