O2, proud partner of England Rugby, is taking ‘Wear the Rose’ on the road to local rugby clubs across the country. The first fully immersive 360-degree virtual reality sports experience, using the revolutionary Oculus Rift technology, ‘Wear the Rose’ gives fans the chance to feel what it’s like to train with the England Rugby Team.
The tour follows a recent O2 competition offering fans the opportunity to win ‘Wear the Rose’ to their local rugby club. The Oculus Rift technology is now hitting the road to visit the winning clubs in a custom built, one-off, live, mobile truck. The truck also features an exact replica of the England Rugby changing room at Twickenham.
‘Wear the Rose’ allows users to be fully immersed in a multi-sensory take-over and feel as though they are part of an England training session, whether it’s a team talk from Captain Chris Robshaw, getting tackled by hooker Tom Youngs, or receiving a pass from fullback Mike Brown.
The experience was created using nine GoPro Hero 3 cameras in a custom built gimble, specifically designed to exploit the capabilities of Oculus Rift. After developing the technology to capture the video, it took a further 160 hours of filming and 320 hours of development to create an experience that allows users to turn their head in any direction, with the content responding and moving in unison, displaying a full 360-degree visual spectrum.