You Can Now Take A Really Boring Virtual Reality Tour Of The White House 

You Can Now Take A Really Boring Virtual Reality Tour Of The White House 

Video: “Tour the White House in virtual reality.” That sounds unbelievably cool, but maybe we shouldn’t be surprised that it’s really not that exciting.

Posted to YouTube yesterday, this new 360 video guides you through a tour of the White House’s holiday decorations. If you don’t have a Google Cardboard viewer, you can just drag the video around with your mouse to get an idea. The video…sucks? It’s blurry and the information is so whatever. I don’t care about the plates Michelle Obama picked out for the holidays. Sorry.

Between Cardboard and its new Jump platform for making 360 video, Google has been throwing down hard on virtual reality development. Which is great. The potential of virtual reality to transport you to other dimensions and exotic locations is exciting. The White House is a place plenty of people will never go and a virtual tour is theoretically enlightening. Unfortunately, this video sort of feels like you’re a 10-year-old being dragged down the corridors by an underpaid tour guide. Maybe I’m cynical. OK, I’m cynical. But this could have been amazing. One day, when the tools to create virtual reality are better — and more people know how to create high-quality experiences — it will be.