I went hands-on with PornHub’s new free ‘VR’ category

The promise of virtual reality is that it can make you feel like you’re anywhere, and naturally, most people want to feel like they’re under an attractive naked person. And I think the Internet might start carrying that kind of content.

Pornhub is positioning itself as a go-to source for the future of adult films by introducing its new free “VR” category in partnership with BadoinkVR. The new section of the Pornhub site and app launches today, and you can visit by clicking on this obviously not-suitable-for-work link. To celebrate this launch, the company is giving away 10,000 phone-holding Google Cardboard goggles that can do a rudimentary form of virtual reality, and you can grab yours here. VR has a lot of people excited, and that has companies like tech adviser Digi-Capital predicting it will generate $30 billion in revenues by 2020. With Oculus Rift launching next week, we may also see how willing people are to make the leap into this next generation of computer interactivity.

https://youtu.be/kWzm5QhSO9U

VR porn isn’t new. BadoinkVR has had content for well over a year aimed at both heterosexual and homosexual men and women. But the difference here is that Pornhub, one of the biggest adult sites on the Internet, is getting involved and is making VR porn that’s free. Up to this point, you couldn’t get this content on the streaming sites like Pornhub. Instead, you had to fork over your credit card info. But even before VR has taken off, that’s changing.

“At Pornhub, it is our duty to provide our global audience with the latest in cutting edge technology,” Pornhub vice president Corey Price said. “Virtual reality is the next phase in the constantly metamorphosing world of adult entertainment and will provide users with a mesmeric experience unlike anything they’ve seen before. Now, our users are not only able to view our content, but be protagonists in the experience and interact with their favorite porn stars.”

I, uh … well, I tried out Pornhub’s breakthrough on my Cardboard. It works. It seemed like that lady was right in front of me. Like I mentioned, this really isn’t new. You could get this content elsewhere if you dropped a few bucks on a subscription. But I will describe what it’s like doing this on Pornhub.

You currently have four options for trying Pornhub VR:

• Desktop browser
• Mobile browser
• Android or iOS app
• Oculus Rift

You can get the apps and Oculus Rift player once it goes live by going to Pornhub VR’s homepage. I tried out a demo video using a desktop browser, Chrome on mobile, and the Android app. Going from watching the video on the Web and dragging my mouse cursor around to actually moving my head to see different areas of the room in the 180-degree video was a major leap. And getting the video loaded up for VR using the app or even the mobile browser was easy.

https://youtu.be/Iv5NJqOEXkY

After clicking on the VR category tab, you can choose your video. The clip will then have a headset symbol you can click to enable the stereoscopic simulation. Chrome for Android does a simple version of this 3D imaging, but the app gives you the option to customize the experience for the exact headset you’re using.

Once you’re in VR, you can use the button on the side of most headsets to center the view, to pause, or to jump backward and forward through the clip by aiming at the corresponding buttons with your gaze.