The Best Virtual Reality Experiences in the UK

If you’re looking for something to do this weekend, how about something truly out of this world? With modern virtual reality simulators, you can visit a real-life or totally imaginary place and feel like you’re really there. Whether you’ve always wanted to be brave hero vanquishing monsters, or just want to explore far-flung places, VR can make it happen.

VR as we know it started life as a training tool for pilots, medics and military personnel, allowing people to fully immerse themselves in an artificial environment by wearing headsets and earphones. In the last decade there has been a huge boom in the leisure side of VR, with billions of pounds spent on technological developments to create a multi-sensory experience.

So let’s strap on our headsets and jump into the crazy world of VR! Here’s some of our top picks for Virtual Reality experiences in the UK:

East Midlands

Tension VR in Lincoln offers a variety of simulated places for you to visit and interact with. For those real adrenalin junkies, you can virtually climb Mount Everest on a journey that has high-quality visuals of the stunning scenery. For the fearless monster hunters there’s a survival shoot ‘em up game set in an apocalyptic land with terrifying creatures out to get you!

This venue is able to those with special needs, and run special sessions for visitors who find it hard to cope with busy environments.

London

If you’re planning a weekend in London, DNA VR is close to many other top attractions in the capital like London Zoo, Madame Tussauds and The British Library. Billed as ‘London’s First Virtual Reality Arcade’, this venue offers both single-player and multiplayer experiences for up to 10 players, making it a great option for parties and corporate events.

They’ve got masses of different games to choose from, and have also started doing VR Escape Rooms for something a bit different!

Yorkshire

VR-Immersion is a relatively new venue for the North of England, based in Bradford.

Their ever-growing library of games includes popular shooters, world explorers and fun casual games. The range includes both top of the range titles and retro arcade games to enjoy. They’ve also had the great idea of including some IRL games for those wanting to take a break from VR, including a pool table, 4-player Xbox and a chill-out area to relax out of the headsets for a while.

Birmingham

Matrix VR is based in the famous Custard Factory (yes it really was a place where custard was made!) a few minutes from the town centre of Birmingham.

Offering hi-spec hardware and software, this venue offers gaming and movie watching experiences (with 360-degree rotating chairs), both perfect for those new to VR. They even have a shop on site so you can talk to VR experts about creating a system of your own at home and buy VR-ready computers and party gaming packs with headsets and controllers.

Milton Keynes

At Rush VR in Milton Keynes, you can really explore the variety of experiences VR has to offer. One of their most popular options is the Cube, where you pay for a session and can choose from over 20 different games to play within that time. If you’ve got the need for speed then you really need to check out the Race Zone, where you can live out your racing driver fantasies in a high-speed racing game with full motion simulation.

These are just a few of the VR venues available across the UK, and as technology becomes cheaper we’re sure there will be one in every town before long!