Since the start of this year’s GITEX Technology Week, Samsung has been offering virtual roller coaster rides at its 4D motion virtual reality theatre as part of its efforts to drum up support for its virtual reality headset made in conjunction with Oculus, the Gear VR, and its own series of Galaxy smartphones that the Gear VR works with.
However, this year’s edition of the 36-year-old technology exhibition won’t be remembered for that. There are lots of other cool stuff happening on the GITEX floor, after all.
It will be remembered for this: setting a Guinness World Record for most participants riding a virtual reality roller coaster for one hour.
Staff of the Dubai World Trade Centre, the exhibition’s hosts and organizers, teamed up with GITEX attendees yesterday to attempt to smash the world record using VR headsets from Samsung. The target was to get just 250 people so as to smash the world record. Well, it seems like the barrier was too low. A record 461 people took part in the virtual roller coaster ride, smashing the world record by far and entering the region’s premier IT exhibition in the record books.