Head Tracking Compared: OpenTrack (Free), Delanclip, TrackIR 5, Tobii 5

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Head tracking is the single upgrade flight and truck simmers describe as transformative, and it is also the one with the widest price spread in all of sim gear: the same job — looking around by moving your head — can cost nothing at all or several hundred dollars. This comparison walks the ladder honestly, starting with the free rung, because a large share of readers should stop there. vJoy readers meet head tracking through OpenTrack in particular, since OpenTrack setups often sit alongside vJoy and feeder apps in community configurations, so we cover that chain carefully.

Rung one: OpenTrack with a webcam — free, and better than you expect

OpenTrack is free, open-source software that turns head movement into sim camera movement. Paired with its neural-network face tracker and an ordinary webcam, it needs no hardware purchase at all, and for MSFS touring, truck sims and general DCS flying it is startlingly capable. The costs are your time and some tolerance: you will spend an evening tuning curves and smoothing, lighting in your room affects tracking quality, and very fast head movements in a DCS dogfight can lose the lock where dedicated hardware would not.

Before buying anything, run this setup for two weeks. Our head-tracking hub links the OpenTrack setup guides, including how OpenTrack output chains through FreePIE and vJoy in community setups. If free tracking satisfies you — and for many readers it genuinely does — you have saved the full price of the hardware below and lost nothing.

Rung two: Delanclip — the OpenTrack-native paid upgrade

Delanclip is a small UK shop that sells infrared LED clips and modified PS3 Eye cameras built specifically for the OpenTrack style of tracking. Where face tracking infers your head position from an image, an LED clip gives the software three bright, unambiguous points to follow, which translates into tracking that stays locked through fast movements, works in dim rooms, and feels noticeably more precise in a fight. For readers who have already chosen the OpenTrack path, this is the recommendation we make most often: it fixes the free setup’s real weaknesses without abandoning the software you have learned.

Full disclosure: Delanclip has no public affiliate programme and we earn nothing from recommending them. The link below is a plain link to their shop. They are in this guide because, for OpenTrack users, they are the right answer — the trust-anchor pick of this comparison.

Rung three: TrackIR 5 — the dedicated-hardware standard

TrackIR 5 from NaturalPoint is the long-standing dedicated standard: a small camera on your monitor tracks reflectors (or an active LED clip) on your headset or cap, with mature software, high update rates and a profile ecosystem built over many years. Its strengths are consistency and polish — it behaves the same in every supported sim, sips system resources, and simply disappears into your setup. Its weaknesses are the flip side of its age: it is a wired, wear-something solution at a premium price, and its value depends heavily on your sims supporting it natively, which the major flight titles do.

NaturalPoint runs no public affiliate programme, so TrackIR reaches this guide through Amazon. If you want the set-and-forget dedicated option and your main sims are DCS, MSFS, IL-2 or the truck sims, this remains the safe, boring, correct purchase.

Rung four: Tobii Eye Tracker 5 — nothing on your head

Tobii takes a different technical route: a bar under your monitor tracks your head and your eyes, with nothing worn at all. In sims with official Tobii support, gaze-aware camera behaviour feels remarkably natural — you look toward a target and the view leans with you — and for glasses wearers and readers who hate wearing a clip, it removes the main friction of the other paid options. It is the premium rung of this ladder, and the price reflects that.

The honesty notes matter here. Tobii’s experience depends on per-game support more than TrackIR’s does: where a sim implements Tobii head tracking well (Star Citizen, MSFS and Elite Dangerous are the showcase titles), it is superb; where support is partial, you may fall back to head-only behaviour or community workarounds. Check your main sims against Tobii’s supported-games list before buying. Tobii also needs reasonable seating position relative to the bar, which very deep-desk or multi-monitor-arc setups should verify.

Per-game support, honestly

Two cautions apply to the whole table. First, support changes with sim updates, so confirm your exact titles before spending on the premium rungs. Second, OpenTrack’s flexibility is also its caveat: because it can output through several protocols, a route that works today may need re-tuning after a sim patch, whereas the dedicated devices’ native support is the publisher’s problem to maintain.

Our verdict

Start free with OpenTrack and a webcam — no exceptions; it is the correct first step for every reader of this site. If you love the software but want it locked-in and precise, buy a Delanclip setup and stay on OpenTrack. If you want dedicated hardware that every major sim supports natively with zero tinkering, buy the TrackIR 5. If wearing anything is a deal-breaker and your main sims officially support it, the Tobii Eye Tracker 5 is the premium pick. Pair whichever rung you choose with a stick from our first joystick guide, and keep vJoy from the download page underneath it all for the axis merging and mapping your setup will inevitably need.