The Mars virtual reality experience, since it was first unveiled in January this year, was generally accepted as being literally and figuratively an “out of the this world” experience – the kind of the thing we might only have dreamed about when we first started seeing VR depicted in the movies.

According to some critics, Google Inc.’s Earth VR is just as mesmerizing as the Mars trip. It’s currently available for HTC Vive as a free download in the Steam VR store, although VR Apps product manager Mike Podwal has said other platforms are being explored.

The adventure offers both a walk around tour where the viewer can navigate city streets from a topographical perspective, and also an experience way above the landcsape.

The real dreaming part is “fly” view, in which using a handheld controller you can traverse the Earth in the sky, crossing ancient rain forests and passing over snow-capped mountain peaks.

Some criticism has been leveled at Earth VR, though: At times, places such as the forests beneath your feet are not as detailed as one would want.

It should also be noted that some places on Earth, such as England’s Windsor Castle, were only rendered in 2-D. CNET reports that even Manilla in the Philippines was only rendered in 2-D. This is most probably why Google suggests destinations or taking users on a pre-made tour.

To start the journey, users can pull up a 3-D digital globe and manipulate it until they have a location they want to start at. In the words of Podwal, “Now, at 196.9 million square miles, we know the world is pretty big, so we’ve made it easy to find great places to visit.”

People thinking about a virtual world trip should know that like Oculus Rift and its apps, running Google Earth VR on HTC’s Vive, will need a fair amount of computing power. It’s reported that Google may release a version able to run on Google’s Daydream headset, although the question of quality comes to mind when a powerful PC is replaced by a headset that works with a mobile phone.

Photo credit: Google