Alright so remember me moaning about XR feeling gimmicky? Yeah well DAZN’s FIFA Club World Cup thing popped up, “next-gen football viewing” they yelled. Skeptical, I had to see if it was just hype. Grabbed my gear – Quest headset, phone, that’s it really. Fumbled opening the DAZN app. Took me a solid minute hunting for the damn “XR Experience” banner. Buried deep, mate.
Finally tapped it. Instructions said “scan your space”. Pointed my phone around the living room like a weirdo. Coffee table? Scanned. Sofa? Scanned. Cat looked suspicious? Scanned her too. Phone heated up proper. Had to clear a space near the TV, kicked shoes and junk out the way. Virtual pitch needs room, apparently.
Got the green light, popped my Quest on. Blinked… and bam! Pitch right there, floating over my rug! Smaller than I thought, maybe coffee table size? But crystal clear. Saw the team lineup hovering near the stands. Tried swiping near ’em – nothing. Groaned. Still holding the controllers! Had to point and click like some old PC game. Clunky.
Found the option to pull up player stats. Stats hovered over players on the pitch – that bit was slick. Saw Mo Salah’s heat map right under his feet on my rug! Pure magic…when it worked. Kept glitching when I moved my head too fast. Felt a bit swimmy.
Wanted the stadium vibe though, that “live” feel. Searched for crowd noise boost. Tapped buttons. Got mini-match highlights popping up instead – random goals playing mid-air. Cool? Yeah. What I wanted? Nope. Couldn’t figure out how to ditch ’em. Felt noisy and crowded.
Spent ages just trying to lean in close to the pitch. Wanted details! Could see blades of virtual grass texture. Minute details on the kits… but when the ball moved fast? Blurry mess. Commentary drifted weirdly sometimes too, like it wasn’t locked to the space.
Eventually gave up, ripped the headset off. Sweaty. Real game had kicked off while I fiddled! Total setup hassle:
- Finding the feature took effort.
- Setup felt like booting an old PC.
- Controls were fussy.
- Glitches pulled me right out.
- That mini-highlights thing was distracting as hell.
Still. Seeing Salah’s heat map burn into my actual rug? That glimpse of detail? Got me buzzing about what this stuff could be someday. DAZN tried something big. Execution? Needs serious polish. Felt like playing a beta test. Cool tech promise… stuck behind setup headaches and janky bits. Back to the standard stream for now. Might peek at their next try though.