4 Best Full Body Tracking for VR in 2023

Hey VR users! Been looking for full body trackers but don’t know which one to get? Trackers can be pricey, and you don’t want to end up getting yet another decoration for your storage room. 

Well, you’re in good hands! We’ve collected the top 4 full body trackers that work for a variety of budgets and skill levels. 

Whether you want to stream, game, or dance with full VR capabilities, these headsets will accurately track you in real time so you can be your best virtual reality self. 

Let’s get right into it!

Best Full Body Tracking VR At A Glance

• HTC Vive Trackers 3.0 (Best High-End)
• HaritoraX (Most Versatile)
• Tundra Labs Tracker (Best Value)
• SlimeVR Full-Body Tracker (Best Budget)

1. HTC Vive Trackers 3.0 (Best High-End)

Want the best possible FBT experience and have some dough to spare? The HTC Vive 3.0 trackers are for you — especially if you’ve got a Valve Index VR headset! 

Overall, compared to the Vive 2.0s, these are a much more worthy investment. With a size decrease of 33% from the Vive 2.0s down to 73g, you’re getting a more lightweight tracker with 7 hours of battery life. The price difference is minimal, with the Vive 3.0s being slightly more expensive. 

The Vive 3.0 trackers are peak full body VR — the precision and accuracy of the tracking you get is currently unmatched in the market. 

Also, these are the best trackers for VRChat — so if you want to ask people if they know “da wae” in full body, you now can! 

A suggestion: wear no more than 3 Vive trackers — one on each foot and one on your waist. Otherwise it can get glitchy and your character will look like their limbs have lost all sense of the rules of physics. And it’s not pretty. 

Now for accessories — you’ll need 2 base stations of course, and multiple USB dongles. You’ll also need something called a dongle cradle for the dongles which you’ll then attach to 3 microUSB cables. Yep… it’s a bit of a hassle. 

You’ll also need track straps for the trackers so you can wear them. It can get pricey (and a bit tedious) pretty quickly, but if you can afford it, it’s definitely worth it.

2. HaritoraX 1.1 (Most Versatile)

Don’t have base stations and want something a bit cheaper? You’re in luck! 

HaritoraX trackers are easy to use and work right out of the box with no base stations or Arduino servers required. So if you’re on a budget or are a novice to full body tracking, this is the perfect option to start with. 

The HaritoraX trackers are motion sensors that are primarily targeted towards SteamVR, but they work with any VR headset out there. And you require just 1 USB dongle for all the trackers.  

The HaritoraX has amazing tracking accuracy that’s actually pretty similar to Vive trackers. The only difference is that it has a slightly higher latency than Vive trackers, but given the massive difference in price points, this is something we’re willing to forgive. 

It also has a longer battery life than the Vive trackers clocking in at no less than 10 hours. Holy guacamole! 

And here’s something really neat — unlike with the Vive trackers, you’ll encounter no problems with occlusion, which is when you cover virtual reality objects with a real object. You can wear things over your trackers without worrying about them losing connection to your PC. 

So that’s one less issue you have to deal with — and we greatly appreciate the HaritoraX trackers for it. Looks like we don’t have to freeze to death doing full body VR anymore.

3. Tundra Labs Tracker (Best Value)

Are you looking for a more lightweight tracker with amazing battery life that’s a little cheaper than Vive trackers? 

The Tundra Labs trackers are all the rage in the virtual reality world nowadays — and for good reason.

For starters, they’re about half as heavy as Vive 3.0 trackers, which is a big plus for wearability and comfort — each tracker clocking in at just 36g. 

One thing that really sets the Tundra trackers apart: the Super Dongle! 

So the Vive trackers require one dongle per tracker. You can either hook up each dongle to its own USB port or use a USB hub to hook all of them up to one port. 

The Tundra tracker dongles, however, use up one USB port but can connect multiple devices at once, including Vive trackers and controllers.

The Super Dongle comes in multiple options including SW3, SW5, and SW7 — the number at the end indicating how many devices you can connect to just one USB port. The Super Dongle saves a whole lot of hassle and mess, and is ideal if you want to attempt something crazy like 11-point tracking. 

Overall, we loved these trackers and highly recommend them to newbies and pros alike. They do require base stations, so keep that in mind before purchasing them.

4. SlimeVR Full-Body Tracker (Best Budget)

Bummed out that the previous options are out of your budget? If you’re fine with getting your hands dirty with a bit of DIY, SlimeVR is for you! 

SlimeVR is an open source full body tracker, which means you can build it yourself for super cheap! The whole setup costs the same as just one Vive tracker and you get to do actual, functional full body tracking. 

And of course, there’s no base stations necessary for SlimeVR. 

Also, fun fact: You can use SlimeVR with Oculus Quest 2 without a PC!

This cheaper option does come with a few downsides, though. First is the lengthy setup. You’ll need to set up some Arduino servers and download the SlimeVR phone app. Then you have to calibrate each tracker and make sure you don’t lose all your settings because if you do, you’ll have to start from scratch.

Once you’re done with that process, the actual trackers are really good. It’s not the quality of Vive trackers, which is to be expected given the price. But it’s almost entirely functional and doesn’t glitch that often. 

It also has spectacular battery life at 15 hours, so if you want to run a VRChat dance marathon, it’s perfect! (We don’t recommend it.) 

It comes with 5 trackers, straps, and a micro USB cable.  

Also, like the HaritoraX, SlimeVR is not restricted by occlusion requirements. In fact, you don’t need to be in line of sight with your camera and can cover trackers with clothes or blankets. 

This is a much superior option to using a Kinect for full body tracking, and the cost isn’t even that much considering the results it gives.

What Do I Need For Full Body Tracking VR?

PC specifications

We’re taking Vive 3.0s as a standard for full body tracking requirements. 

First of all, you absolutely do require a PC for full body tracking — with some exceptions for certain trackers and headsets. 

Starting with processors, you’ll need at least an Intel Core i5-4590/AMD FX 8350 equivalent or anything newer.

When it comes to GPU, you need a minimum of NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 or AMD Radeon R9 290. The recommended GPUs for full body are NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 and the AMD Radeon RX 480. 

For computer memory, you’ll need 4 GB of RAM or more. And for video output, you’ll need HDMI 1.4 and DisplayPort 1.2 or newer.

USB ports are a doozy. You’ll need at least one USB 2.0 port — that is, if you have a USB hub. If you don’t, you’ll need as  many USB ports as trackers so you can connect all of them to your PC, so at least 3 USB ports. That is, if you use the Vive dongles. 

And lastly for operating systems (sorry Linux and Mac users), you’ll need at least Windows 7 SP1, Windows 8.1 and above, or Windows 10.

Accessories

You’ll need to purchase one USB dongle for each tracker unless you use a specialized dongle like Tundra Labs’ Super Dongle. 

If you’re buying the standard Vive dongles, you’ll need a dongle cradle and a USB hub for multiple dongles so you don’t use up all your USB ports. 

Also, for most full body trackers, you’ll also need micro USB cables. 

Optionally, you can get controllers for certain games like guns and ping pong paddles. Looks like we’re back to the Wii era of gaming! 

You’ll also need track straps to put the trackers on your body — and a belt to put a tracker on your waist. 

If you’re opting for Tundra or Vive trackers, you’ll also need two base stations.

Budget

For the whole full body tracking experience including base stations, you’ll have to pay somewhere from $800 to $1000.

Trackers can get costly, usually starting from $90 a pop, and you’ll need at least 3 of them. Then there’s accessories to consider, such as USB dongles, micro USB cables, a USB hub, and track straps. 

If you go the DIY route with SlimeVR, you can make significant savings and get full body tracking for the price of one Vive tracker. However, as expected, there will be some trade-offs in tracking accuracy and latency.

What Games Support Full Body Tracking VR? 

Though the number of games supporting full body tracking isn’t that high, it’s clear that it’s slowly catching on amongst game developers and gamers alike. And as a result, more games are offering full body virtual reality experiences. 

1. Starting with the classic VRChat — the source of many memes and hijinks, VRChat is the most popular VR game available for socializing. As such, it’s only appropriate that it carries the option for full body tracking. You can dance, run around in circles, or stand for long stretches of time and stare at people until they get weirded out and log off. Up to you!

2. If you’d like a virtual reality world geared towards a less meme-y type of vibe, Neos VR is lovely. You can socialize, but you can also build in real-time. If you’re a Minecraft/world-building fan, you’ll enjoy this game. 

3. Fit It is a VR game where you basically try to lose weight, except it’s gamified and therefore FUN! But actually it’s a good way to get rid of some of those pandemic pounds some of us have put on. 

4. Island 359 is a virtual reality game where you can go dinosaur hunting, and it’s downright terrifying. It’s made even more so when you’re doing full body tracking — we do not recommend it for the faint of heart!  

5. VR Monster Awakens is a game where you play as a giant blue kaiju, which is Japanese for “strange monster”, such as the Godzilla type. You can actually grab cars and throw them around. Fun for stress and anger relief! 

6. Beat Saber is a fun virtual reality game to try if you enjoy music. It’s a musical version of Fruit Ninja where you basically slice cubes in half to the beat of a song. There’s also a game called Full-Body Rhythm VR which is pretty similar in premise to Beat Saber. 

7. Another must-try is Hubris VR. It’s a really immersive game with beautiful graphics. The plot is that you’re on an alien planet and trying to explore and survive on it with your friend Lucia. The scenery and visuals in this game are simply breathtaking — we highly recommend it. 

8. If you’re a fan of the more gory genre of games, Blade and Sorcery is like a virtual reality GTA but with magic. You can do a whole lot of awful stuff which would probably get angry moms to write petitions to ban video games. 

9. Tornuffalo is a super fun game where you have to dodge stuff being thrown at you. In addition to being an awesome core workout, it prepares you for if people suddenly throw a whole lot of stuff at you in real life. 

10. Arizona Sunshine is a zombie shooter game that works really well with full body tracking. 
11. Final Soccer is… well, a soccer game. 

Is Full Body Tracking VR worth it?

It depends. 

Full body tracking is a niche hobby, and if you want the best of the best, it can get insanely expensive fast.

That being said, if you’re an active VR user and you see yourself using it, we’d highly recommend getting full body tracking. It ups the immersion to another level than just being able to move your arms in VR. 

Full body tracking is really awesome for socializing in games like VRChat and Neos VR, so if you play those a lot, it’s a good investment to increase your enjoyment of the game. If you stream with a virtual avatar, full body tracking can also give you a more fun experience and enable you to be a lot more physical and vibrant with your audience. 

TL;DR — if physical immersion and being able to make movements are important to you, whether in gaming, streaming, or socializing in VR, get full body tracking.

If you’re more of a casual user, you may still gain a lot of enjoyment from it — it’s just the price can be pretty expensive unless you opt for the more budget-friendly options like SlimeVR and HaritoraX. And most casual users are not willing to put in the time, effort, or money which full body tracking admittedly can take a lot of.

Is Full Body Tracking VR worth it?

If you want the most accurate, precise, and fastest full body tracking and you’re not restricted by a low budget, we highly recommend the Vive trackers (3.0). These are a full body tracking staple that have yet to be replaced. 

If you’re just starting out with full body tracking and don’t have base stations/are on a budget/both, the HaritoraX trackers are for you! They have really good tracking accuracy and you won’t run into any difficulties with occlusion. 

Want a lightweight tracker that’ll really make things easier for you? The Tundra Labs trackers are much smaller than the Vive 3.0s and the Super Dongle truly makes life easier. 
Finally, if you’re on a tight budget but want to join in on the fun of full body tracking, SlimeVR is an awesome option that you can purchase for cheap or even just make yourself at home. It does take a bit of tinkering, so you will need patience and some technical skill. But for a really low price, you’ll get to do full body tracking with much better results than traditional budget options like using a webcam or a Wii Kinect.