Chinese toy and animation tycoon joins virtual reality race with new headset and gaming centre

Last month I got a taste of what a roller-coaster ride feels like without actually being in one. And all it took was a pair of virtual reality (VR) goggles. Although I was seated firmly in a cocoon-like chair, it wasn't long before my heart leapt out of my chest as the visual illusion induced the dizzying sensation of hurtling along tracks that looped, dived and swung out again.

Unveiled at a Shenzhen cultural industry fair in May, the goggles are being produced by toy and animation tycoon Zhuang Xiangsong in partnership with Shenzhen company Virtual Reality.

Zhuang has grand ambitions for the goggles, which could become a key driver for his China Animation Group. Besides creating an additional platform for the company's stable of cartoon characters, he hopes the device can grab a slice of an emerging global market for VR entertainment.

He says his company has developed more than 10 apps for the goggles. While the roller-coaster ride used digital imagery, other apps use real footage to recreate the experience.

"Our travel apps provide real images of the environments, like Google Maps. One such app takes people to Tibet on a high-speed train, seeing the view along the tracks," Zhuang says. "Another recreates the whole city of Kashgar in Xinjiang that people can walk around in."

Applications for the goggles can be limitless, Zhuang says, as they have created a platform that will be open to the public to develop content for, and which goggle buyers can download.