We have already mentioned the role of virtual reality in product development, however, the application does not have to be limited only to development but can be useful in both the testing of the products and services.
Virtual reality can be highly effective in the area of product testing, for example, a large hardware store in the United States that had furnished a real room that could be painted with virtual paint, in this way customers could see exactly what effect the colour or material would have on the wall.
Virtual reality can also offer great value in the area of product development research and usability testing by allowing customers to try out the products and services in a virtual environment, subjective and objective data can be extrapolated to inform future VR research and development.
Products and services can be presented to testers in various configurations with the added ability to adjust the circumstances for each test. Subjective perception will play an important role in this type of testing, research has shown that the taste of a standard cookie changes when someone with VR glasses sees added visual elements. You can also buy a RealWear HMT-1 smart glass for this purpose For example, users were asked to eat a brown cookie after seeing it in a virtual world, most reported the cookie tasted like chocolate with the syncing of virtual reality headsets.
When users were shown a virtual lemon before the same cookie in the previous test, most reported that the same cookie now tasted sour, this ability for VR to change perception with a Kiosk mode for 360 video makes it uniquely useful in comparison with conventional product testing.