First, way back in 2002, we reported on this http://www.popsci.com/popsci/how20/f7aa9aa138b84010vgnvcm1000004eecbccdr... ">crazy new kind of movie-making

Hear more about author James Vlahos's experience in the Army's new smell simulator on the PopSci Podcast.

Eric Clapton wannabes have strummed the classic riff from “Layla” on imaginary Fenders for decades. Now, thanks to a virtual-reality rig developed at the Helsinki University of Technology in Finland, air guitarists can finally hear themselves jamming. The best part is that the machine can actually make them sound good.

To play, you simply put on a pair of bright orange gloves and start strumming. A webcam records your hand motions and relays the data to a PC.

Even if you had free run of any skybox in Madison Square Garden, you still wouldn’t see half the action that you will in your own living room, one day soon, on a large-screen holographic television. Without ever leaving your chair, you’ll be poised to watch each play unfold from whatever perspective you choose, gazing into the depths of your TV.

Pulse pounding, you hit the brakes and crank the wheel, but it’s too late: The
car can’t overcome its own momentum, and you slam into the wall at 150. And
then?