Several companies have a lot riding on the success of virtual reality, and with the mass market within reach thanks to the overwhelming sales success of the PlayStation 4, Sony’s recently branded PlayStation VR is perhaps the best positioned of the three to sell in large numbers.

The headset itself is slick and well designed, with smooth and attractively styled plastic and a ring that sits on your head and effectively dangles the screen in front of your eyes. So much of the experience hinges upon getting comfortable with the unit on your head and getting everything into focus, and to that end, the ring is welcomingly adjustable and the screen can slide back and forth until your eyes can properly focus on the image that’s presented to them. The whole headset is light enough that it feels as though it could be worn for relatively extended periods of time.

But it’s not yet the dream set up – none of the first generation VR solutions are – with a long cable that leads back to the console and the need for a pair of headphones which adds another cable to the mix. Though not a major issue, and likely easy to work around by adjusting the headset further, there is the potential for outside light to sneak in around the edge of the screen, and I found that the cut out for my nose did lightly press as I was playing the two tech demos.

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Of course, that quickly fades into the background as I’m handed a pair of PlayStation Move controllers and the Getaway section from the multipart London Heist demo loads in. I’m in the passenger seat of a van, as a burly gangster type talks to me and sets the scene. I’m reaching out and picking things up in the world, with a very real sense of depth and place thanks to the 3D positional tracking of the Move controllers. I can pick up a fast food joint cup on the dashboard, before carefully placing it back, open the glove box by pulling on the handle, before slamming it shut again.

This would all be lovely, if this demo were called “A Long and Uneventful Drive to the Cotswolds”, but it’s not, and before too long rival gang members catch us up on motorbikes and in SUVs. I grab the Uzi and start firing away, with relatively realistic damage being done as I shoot out tyres. In a nice touch, the chap driving leans far back into his seat so that I can stick out an arm right in front of his face to shoot at a van coming up on the right. Reloading is intuitive as well, as I reach to grab a clip with my left hand from the bag full of ammo that sits between the two of us, before performing the motion to stick it into the hole for a fresh clip in the grip of the gun.

While it’s a nice tech demo, it is just that for the time being, but it points towards the kinds of possibilities that Sony have been exploring with setting a scene and letting you inhabit it. There’s a small space for you to reach out and interact with, with a rather deliberately low complexity to the kinds of visuals on show, to allow for 1080p and seamlessly smooth frame rate, though I’m eager to see how this can be pushed and broadened in scope into something fuller.

The same is very true of The Kitchen, another somewhat infamous VR demo that plays on various horror motifs. There’s much less interactivity here, as you wake up in a decrepit kitchen with a camera pointed at your face. Your hands are bound together, symbolically restricted in the real world by holding onto a DualShock 4, but the camera is the only thing within reach anyway, and even then you can only knock it over. It’s not quite as wild a demo to watch people play – unfortunately, this was the one I decided to record for the video above – but does a good job of placing you in the moment.

The situation you find yourself in turns south quite rapidly, as your fellow hostage wakes, but perishes quite suddenly while he tries to release you, as a woman seemingly straight out of The Ring appears behind him. What stands out in this is how well the demo plays with sound and tension, with the LED lights on the PS VR headset meaning that my movements aren’t lost as I try to look behind me and pinpoint a noise heard over the din of the consumer show.

The developers know that you’ll try to react in the real world to something that seems to be right in front of you and play on this in a few ways. If someone’s about to attack you, you will try to dodge, and if something comes very, very close to your face, you will try and recoil from it. Ultimately, the demo had lost a certain impact, as I’d read a description of what occurs some months ago, but there were still some unsettling moments that show the potential of VR and horror games to combine forces.

Of course, there are plenty of other avenues and experiences to explore as well, and Sony have already come out with RIGS from Guerrilla Cambridge, which puts you into a variety of mech suits in a futuristic multiplayer sport, and I’m personally eager to see what more Sony have to show of their internal projects when the time comes at Paris Games Week at the end of October.