TrackIR is a PC peripheral that tracks head movement and translates that movement into a gaming application. This device is simply one the most amazing gaming devices ever! Especially geared for flight simulators it is very easy to get used to and once you try it, you will never play without it! Obviously, you need to keep your eyes pointed forward to your monitor, so the TrackIR software has configurable power curves that amplify your head motion depending on your preference. TrackIR uses a small Infra-Red camera mounted on your monitor and captures the signals produced by the above head tracking units LED's.
For first person shooters, this hardware is also useful. While there are titles such as "ArmA" that fully utilize the TrackIR in seperating your head movement from your body movement, these titles are few and far between. While popular, TrackIR does not nearly have enough user base to make this a viable technology for most games to bother implementing. For other games that allow for side leaning - left and right, I use a 3rd party application called "TrackMapper" to map the keyboard commands to a head axis. For simple left and right I assign the key to a tilt of my head. This works great for peeking around corners and staying behind cover!
Per my request, NaturalPoint - Birch modded TrackMapper1.1a to be able to use more axes than the original software allowed. You may download this updated version of the software here. Feel free to use and distribute this software.
For flight simulators, the TrackIR is nothing short of stunning! Full Six Degrees of Freedom (6DoF) is enjoyed by TrackIR users. The 6DoF are - Yaw, Pitch, Roll, X, Y, and Z movements within a 3D environment. Every possible motion your real head can perform can be duplicated by TrackIR in a game that supports it! More and more titles are getting on the bandwagon and adding TrackIR support.
A video showing TrackIR.
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