You knew this was coming, even if you didn't want to believe it: A sex-toy company and a VR porn outfit are creating a way to enjoy synced-up virtual reality sex. And while virtual-reality headsets haven’t yet hit the mainstream, Lovense and VirtualRealPorn hope their collaborative stroke of genius can thrust VR into the spotlight.

[We should note that most links in this story are varying degrees of NSFW.]

The trick involves using a Bluetooth dongle, specially coded VR videos, and Lovense's Max and Nora sex toys to make the toys' vibrations and rotations sync with the VR action seen in your headset. The idea is to make you feel exactly what you're seeing—in real-time and in all the right places.

According to Lovense, the girthier portion of its rabbit-style Nora toy will vibrate to match the speed of male performers in VirtualRealPorn videos, while the smaller arm will buzz “every time the performers' bodies collide.” Likewise, its Fleshlight-like Max toy will use air pumps to contract in accordance with the female performer’s alacrity, and the whole device will vibrate when... well, you get the idea.

This delicate dance between hardware and video certainly promises a deeper level of immersion. But is it just too much trouble? It's quite a lot of gear for something that, for most people, remains an analog exercise. However, Lovense says the main thing that makes the next-gen process cumbersome is the VR goggles. Once you've strapped those on, the company figures, you might as well go all-out and sync it to some toys. Right?

Lovense

“Viewing virtual porn is more work and requires more components compared to viewing regular porn,” says Lovense founder Dan Liu. “But viewing regular porn is sometimes too much work, too. It’s not unusual for people to spend a lot of their time finding the right video and a fraction of the time actually getting off.”

If you already own a Nora or Max toy, Lovense says it'll work just fine with the new VR features. But while existing devices are compatible, the VR sync won’t work with the porn you've got on your computer now. You’ll need VirtualRealPorn’s VirtualRealPlayer, which is currently only compatible with Windows computers and the Oculus DK1 and DK2 headsets.

However, more device support is in the works, including VirtualRealPlayer apps for Android and iOS; eventually, they plan for the synced-up system to work with the Oculus Rift consumer version, Android phones, iOS phones, and the Samsung Gear VR. The player is free, but you need to pay a subscription fee to watch the videos.

'We dream that teledildonics will enable users to not have to interact at all–or that any of their interaction is reflected in the content.'

For now, you won’t need to worry about key plot developments going on behind you: The 32 sync-coded videos at launch have a 180-degree field of view, and VirtualRealPorn plans to release at least one new compatible video each week. Prepping those videos involves a lot of handiwork.

"[We] code all the motions for the toy in each video and integrate them with our video player," says VirtualRealPorn co-founder Leonor Laplaza. "We’re looking for ways to automate the integration, but for now it’s all done manually."

This isn't Lovense's first teledildonics rodeo. You already can control Nora and Max remotely over long distances via a mobile app or Skype, and sync their movements to each other—features that are geared toward long-distance couples. And while the VR upgrades are certainly the most advanced options for flying solo, Nora and Max already have modes that sync their throbs and pulses to music.

Lovense

This is the first time the two companies have worked together. VirtualRealPorn has been concentrating on filming “VR POV” porn for awhile, and the company sought a partnership with Lovense due to its existing connected toys. They've been working on the hardware integration since late last year, with all the testing done by employees of both companies. It’s an ongoing process, and both Lovense and VirtualRealPorn want to refine the interplay between the toys and the content as VR explodes into the mainstream.

Unless you’ve got an Oculus development rig right now, you’ll have to endure your manual methods a bit longer. The VirtualRealPlayer apps for Android and iOS are still in development, and the company expects the Android app to come first. There are potential roadblocks with adult content in the iOS App Store, but Lovense says the app itself doesn’t include any NSFW material; it's just a VR video player, and all the content has to be downloaded outside the app.

“The goal was to create an experience that felt completely immersive,” says VirtualRealPorn's Laplaza. “We dream that teledildonics will enable users to not have to interact at all—or that any of their interaction is reflected in the content.”