Derren Browne’s VR Thorpe Parke ride uses the HTC Vive

Although virtual reality has a lot of potential for giving us amazing gaming experiences in the home, there's also huge potential for more advanced entertainment at bespoke locations. Take the upcoming re-imagining of the ghost train in a partnership between Thorpe Park and Derren Brown, utilising virtual reality to enhance its scares.

Said to have been in development for over three years, with “over a thousand specialists” contributing to its creation, the ride will utilise the HTC Vive (probably Pre) VR headset to immerse those riding it in a world which combines digital scares, with real world movement and live action performances, to create something quite unlike rides of the past (Thanks RoadtoVR).

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We're told that the experience will last just under a quarter of an hour and will take place within the confines of a Victorian train carriage. Apparently it's suspended in the air too, which means shaking it about shouldn't be too difficult.

However as pre-determined as ghost trains are, this one won't be the same every time. There are said to be a total of 12 different journeys the carriage can take, with two different endings for the occupants. Whether that will be luck of the draw, dependant on which employees are available for certain roles, or perhaps on the actions of the riders themselves, is anyone's guess.

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The ride will open this Spring and will no doubt designed to try and draw away attention from Alton Tower's revamping of its Air ride into the new Galactia VR experience.

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KitGuru Says: I'm not a big theme park fan, but this could be a lot of fun. It could be interesting too to see what sort of illusions Brown can come up with using VR.

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