Virtual reality boat sales

Is this the future of boat buying? Certainly car brands are jumping on the virtual reality 360-degree wagon and now, it seems, the big global yachting brands are dipping a toe into the virtual water.

At Jeanneau's recent 2016 Cannes Press Fest in the South of France, the global boatbuilder revealed its YouTube 360 video of the new 54 Yacht — the same yacht setting sail for Sydney boat show, only in two-cabin guise.

The video of the three-cabin Jeanneau 54 has been on YouTube for some time, with the 360 degree format available for playing through the latest browsers on your phone or desktop.

But with a set of Samsung Gear VR goggles and the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 smartphone strapped into place, suddenly, you were in another sailing world.

The goggles use a series of gyroscopes from Oculus VR, a product and brand that Facebook owns and which is central to its global VR plans, according to Mark Zuckerberg.

The gyros track your head movements to provide seamless viewing and, in this case, a virtual sailing experience.

You start off following the Jeanneau 54 yacht as it beats along, then fly along its decks, view the cockpit, climb the mast, head down into the saloon and explore the layout. Being 360 degree means you can move around the boat in virtual reality and look behind, above and below you.

You have to physically move your head to change the outlook and it's a little grainy and feels confined at times. It's early days for VR...

But with the auto industry jumping aboard and set to create virtual showrooms in city locations, it seems at least a few big boat dealers are poised to add VR to their suite of sales tools in the near future.

Erik Stromberg, Development Manager at Jeanneau, told us the yacht maker is investing in more 360 video of its high-end boats and more VR experiences.

Given the cost of a Samsung Gear VR goggles is $157 from Harvey Norman, excluding the $500 phone, we're not talking about prohibitive user cost.

Video production might be another matter, but our carsales.com.au colleagues have 3D cameras that they've recently added to their auto shooting kit for social media content.

There is a lot of hype about VR right now, especially as it relates to 3D games, and as we write this, would you believe, we've just been invited to an exclusive press event for David Attenborough’s Virtual Reality Experiences at the Australian Museum.

The Attenborough VR experiences are about "changing the way we learn and experience the world around us," so says the invite, via the screening of two nature documentaries made exclusively for virtual reality: Great Barrier Reef Dive and First Life.

While it is our view that the virtual world will never replace the real thing, especially with regard to boats that are just inimitable in their natural environment, VR is a useful tool for education and information dissemination in remote locations.

Stromberg has found the technology has worked for technical training on new-model yachts. He says the affordability means VR and 3D could soon be another tool that in the boat-buyer's arsenal, too.

Certainly, boat buyers arm themselves with every little bit of information they can access these days before signing on that dotted line.

In the future, you may well find your new boat comes with a set of VR goggles and an interactive manual. A tutorial could walk you into various areas and show you the correct maintenance procedures, access points, and DIY fixes.

Meantime, back to reality. With the goggles removed, it was time to feel the wind in our hair. For now, at least, there is no substitute for that truly immersive boating experience, especially when you are setting sail off Cannes.