TrackIR

TrackIR
Basic Info
VR/AR	Virtual Reality
Type	Optical head tracker
Subtype	Desktop head-tracking controller
Platform	Microsoft Windows
Creator	NaturalPoint
Developer	NaturalPoint
Manufacturer	NaturalPoint
Announcement Date	2001 (first model)
Release Date	2009 (TrackIR 5)
Price	US$149.95 (TrackIR 5)
Website	https://www.trackir.com/
Versions	TrackIR 1, 2, 3, 4 (Pro), 5
Requires	Windows PC, USB port, reflective TrackClip or active TrackClip Pro
Predecessor	TrackIR 4 Pro
Successor	N/A
System
Operating System	Microsoft Windows
Storage
Display
Display	N/A
Resolution	N/A
Refresh Rate	N/A
Image
Field of View	51.7 degrees horizontal (camera)
Optics
Optics	N/A
Passthrough	N/A
Tracking
Tracking	Outside-in optical (infrared), up to 6 degrees of freedom
Eye Tracking	N/A
Face Tracking	N/A
Hand Tracking	N/A
Body Tracking	N/A
Rotational Tracking	Yes (yaw, pitch, roll)
Positional Tracking	Yes (X, Y, Z translation)
Audio
Audio	N/A
Microphone	N/A
Camera	Infrared sensor, 120 Hz sample rate
Connectivity
Connectivity	USB
Power	USB bus-powered
Device
Sensors	Infrared camera; tracks passive reflectors or active IR LEDs
Input	Head movement

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TrackIR is an optical head-tracking system made by NaturalPoint for personal computers running Microsoft Windows. A small infrared camera clipped to or placed on the user's monitor watches infrared light reflected or emitted by markers worn on the head, and translates head motion into up to six degrees of freedom of view control inside supported games and simulations. First released in 2001, it became the de facto standard for hands-free view control in PC flight, racing and space simulators, where it is used to look around a virtual cockpit by physically moving the head while the player continues to face the screen.

TrackIR maps real head movement to the in-game camera rather than placing the user inside a head-mounted virtual world, so it is a desktop-and-monitor alternative to Virtual Reality head tracking rather than a VR device itself. It predates consumer VR headsets and is frequently compared with them by the simulation community: it is far less demanding on hardware and is often preferred for competitive play, while a VR headset gives full immersion at higher cost and graphics load. The same company's optical-tracking work on TrackIR also led to its OptiTrack motion-capture systems.

Company and origins

NaturalPoint, Inc. is based in Corvallis, Oregon, and develops optical tracking hardware. The company describes TrackIR as the product that let gamers control an in-game camera with head movement, and states that the multi-camera tracking work behind TrackIR became the basis of its OptiTrack motion-capture line; NaturalPoint identifies itself as the creator of the OptiTrack, TrackIR and SmartNav brands.

The original idea was simple: a small infrared camera could follow a single marker on a player's head and use that to pan the view in any simulator that already supported mouse-driven look controls. The first TrackIR shipped in 2001, and over the following years NaturalPoint released successive camera models with higher frame rates and resolution.

In November 2016 the display manufacturer Planar Systems announced it would acquire NaturalPoint, and the deal was finalized on January 27, 2017. Planar described NaturalPoint as the creator and manufacturer of the TrackIR, OptiTrack and SmartNav product lines, and framed the acquisition around opportunities in augmented and virtual reality as well as motion capture, drone tracking and visualization. As of 2026 the company operates under the OptiTrack name (NaturalPoint, Inc. DBA OptiTrack) and continues to sell TrackIR.

How it works

TrackIR uses outside-in optical tracking. The camera sits on or near the top of the monitor and faces the user. Rather than a normal webcam image, it captures only infrared light, which isolates the tracking markers from the rest of the scene.

There are two ways to provide those markers. The passive TrackClip is a lightweight frame, usually clipped to a cap or headset, that carries three retro-reflective dots. The camera emits a beam of infrared light and the reflectors bounce it back to the sensor. The TrackClip Pro replaces the reflectors with three active infrared LEDs that emit their own light, which NaturalPoint and reviewers describe as giving more accuracy and a quicker response than the passive clip. Because the markers form a known rigid triangle, the software can reconstruct the head's orientation (yaw, pitch and roll) and its translation along the X, Y and Z axes, giving six degrees of freedom.

The accompanying Windows software lets the user scale and curve that movement so that, for example, a modest physical turn of the head produces a much larger virtual turn. This lets a player rotate the in-game view roughly 180 degrees while still looking at the screen, which is what makes it practical to "check six" in a combat flight sim without a headset. Games receive the head data through NaturalPoint's TrackIR interface (its application programming interface), and titles that support it expose a TrackIR option directly in their control settings.

Models

NaturalPoint released several generations of the TrackIR camera between 2001 and 2009. Early units (TrackIR 1 and 2) are obsolete and their drivers are no longer maintained; later models raised the frame rate and resolution. The TrackIR 4 Pro was the mainstream model of the mid-to-late 2000s, and TrackIR 5, released in 2009, is the current and most widely used version.

TrackIR generations

Model	Approx. era	Notes
TrackIR 1 / 2	2001 / 2003	First generations; drivers no longer maintained
TrackIR 3	2004	Camera with increased frame rate and resolution
TrackIR 4 (Pro)	2005	Added 6DOF and a wider field of view; mainstream model of the period
TrackIR 5	2009	Current model; 120 Hz, 51.7-degree horizontal field of view

The TrackIR 5 camera samples at 120 Hz with a horizontal field of view of 51.7 degrees, and NaturalPoint cites sub-pixel processing for fine movement detection. It connects over USB, works on current versions of Windows, and tracks the user at a typical distance of roughly 2 to 5 feet from the camera. As of 2026 it is sold for about US$149.95 and is advertised with support for 200 or more game titles.

Software interface and alternatives

NaturalPoint's TrackIR interface is proprietary, and the company's licensing terms restricted developers from using TrackIR compatibility to enable competing hardware. NaturalPoint also encrypted the interface in October 2008, which prevented unofficial devices from working with newer titles that used the protected protocol.

In response, a number of open-source head-tracking projects appeared that reproduce head tracking using ordinary webcams or infrared LEDs and feed games through the FreeTrack or TrackIR-style protocols. FreeTrack was an early example, followed by FaceTrackNoIR, which needs only a webcam, and OpenTrack, an actively maintained project that combines features of the two. These tools support many of the same flight, racing and space simulators, including titles such as IL-2 Sturmovik, Elite Dangerous, Star Citizen and DCS World.

Supported software and use

TrackIR is most associated with combat and civil flight simulators, vehicle and racing sims, and space sims, where free head movement adds a sense of looking around a cockpit. Games commonly cited as supporting TrackIR include DCS World, Microsoft Flight Simulator, X-Plane, IL-2 Sturmovik, Elite Dangerous, Star Citizen and iRacing. Because support is built in per title, only games that implement the TrackIR option respond to it.

Relationship to virtual reality

TrackIR sits next to VR as a related but distinct approach to head-driven view control. Both read the orientation and position of the user's head; the difference is what they do with it. A VR headset renders a stereoscopic 3D world that fills the user's vision and turns with the head one-to-one, while TrackIR drives a 2D monitor view and lets the player amplify or curve the head motion.

In the flight-sim community the two are routinely weighed against each other. TrackIR needs only a camera and a clip-on emitter, has little effect on frame rate, and lets the player glance at a second screen or printed checklist, so reviewers often call it the better choice for competitive play and for learning a complex aircraft. VR delivers stronger presence and depth, especially around carrier operations, but is far more demanding on the PC, costs more, and makes it harder to look directly behind the aircraft. NaturalPoint's parent Planar Systems explicitly tied its 2016 acquisition of NaturalPoint to growth in augmented and virtual reality, reflecting the overlap between TrackIR's optical-tracking know-how and VR/AR tracking.

See also

• Outside-in tracking
• Positional tracking
• Degrees of freedom
• Head-mounted display
• Flight Simulator: VR