Meta Launches New Hand Tracking Feature Called Direct Touch, Making You Feel Like Seeing the Future 

Meta has recently launched a new hand-tracking feature and begun its testing process too. The company tests what could work as an introductory promotion to its Quest VR headsets. It introduces a way to browse virtual elements using your hands without any controllers.

Direct Touch, the new hand-tracking feature, will make you do actions you might already know using your smartphone, such as browsing a page, clicking a button to activate a feature, or typing onscreen keyboard. It includes the Quest v50 software update, which the company has already rolled out. Hand tracking on the Direct Touch leads Quest 2 to use the external-facing cameras to follow users’ hands.

The feature lets users see their hands in VR like a shadow inside the headset. Mark Zuckerberg appeared in a video showing Direct Touch’s features. The video looks like something taken from a Quest Pro because it reveals more hand and arm detail than only hands.

Direct Touch – Hand Tracking Feature 

Direct Touch allows you to use those dark hand shadows to approximate when you touch a window or menu appearing in front of you. It lets you make contact to cause things to start scrolling or lighting up. While scrolling tends to be jerky, it is more responsive than most users think. Using Direct Touch to type is a tiring process.

You can type to input text by tapping a part of the Quest User Interface, as it will pop up the Quest’s onscreen keyboard under the window. It allows you to spell things out when you press individual keys.

Lacking a physical place to rest your fingers or hands makes it hard to understand where or what you type. Although when users resort to VR hunt-and-peck to uselessly write a single word, the User Interface often thinks that they press a different key than the one they intend.

Luckily, the keyboard suggests words you type, which can be handy in a pinch. Many tech analysts believe the Quest web browser best showcases the Direct Touch Controls. It means users do not need to worry if they make spelling errors because the search engine will probably fix them. Browsing the page up and down can work well similar to tapping on links.

Direct Touch’s Compatibility with Quest Apps  

According to tech researchers, most built-in Quest apps are usable with Direct Touch, though the Quest Store does not have many apps, including Horizon Worlds VR updated to function with users’ hands, without controllers. It means you cannot even open them unless you use a controller.

Direct Touch is subject to experiment. You cannot trust that your hand touches a virtual piece of the Quest’s User Interface with every mid-air poke. Therefore, you might quickly get frustrated when using it for longer. Meta also has other hand gestures which you can use and benefit from without controllers. They include more reliable pinching, but they are less intuitive.