There’s a lot involved in getting your new PlayStation VR ready to rock. That’s mostly because you don’t plug it directly into your PS4, but instead into a Processor Unit that in turn connects to the main console.

The Processor Unit itself has been designed to fit in with the rest of the PS4 family (matte black finish, ridge running down the middle) but it feels very light and plasticky by comparison.

The HDMI cable that previously ran from your TV to your PS4 now runs to this instead, with an extra, bundled HDMI lead then running from this to the PS4. The Processor Unit from now on will work as a passthrough, sending video to the headset and your TV (so anyone else can see what you’re up to) when playing VR, and just to your TV when the headset’s switched off.

The idea here is that you don’t have to plug in and unplug cables to switch modes. Unfortunately, that’s rather undermined by the fact that the Processor Unit can’t pass-through HDR (you know, that awesome video feature that every PS4 just got), so you will have to do an irritating cable shuffle whenever you want to switch from VR to HDR gaming and vice versa. That seems a really baffling oversight to me, and one that’s only going to get more irritating as HDR games and TVs become more prevalent.

Anyway, back to the cables, because we’re sure as heck not done yet. No, don’t go - it’s interesting, honest.

As well as the HDMI, the Processor Unit also needs to be connected to your PS4 via USB. The rub here is that while the PU has a USB port on its rear, the standard PS4 and PS4 Slim do not, so you have to run the cable to the front of your console. Having a cable permanently dangling out of the front of your console might not be a huge deal, but it does feel like another example of surprisingly thoughtless design. FYI, the upcoming PS4 Pro does have a rear USB, and can also give a visual boost to your VR games.

Once all of the connections to the PS4 have been made, you need to wire the headset itself to the Processor Unit. No, the headset isn’t wireless and no-one expected it to be - VR relies on very low latency to not make you throw up, and low latency demands cables.

The one coming from the headset is about 1.5m long and splits into two HDMI-looking connectors at the end. These are plugged into a little box (the connectors are colour-coded and shaped so you can’t get it wrong) that’s attached to its own 3m cable, which again splits into two ends that you plug into the front of the Processor Unit.