Surgery, education and architecture among the possible real-world uses for virtual reality
VR could be used for more than just games as it gives surgeons to train from other countries or even perform operations using the technology.
With virtual reality (VR) devices such as Oculus Rift and the HTC Vive being released this year, a lot of focus has been placed on how the new technology will transform the gaming industry.
But VR has more real-world applications that just gaming.
VR devices could be used to simulate training scenarios for doctors and first aid responders, according to Karl Woolley, creative technologist and VR lead at visual effects company Framestore.
"Rather than poking around in a prosthetic dummy and trying to locate the heart of the patient and operate on that, there's no reason why you can't have a virtual reality or mixed reality application where you could have virtual tools in your hands,".
Woolley also described how surgical specialists in one country could advise doctors in another country using VR. In the future, VR may be a key element of allowing surgeons to operate remotely using machines.
"Either you could remotely survey and give advice to the local people in the theatre or you could potentially have that specialist operate," he said. "It's a possibility, but we're not quite there yet."
As well as training, VR applications will allow students to interact with digital objects in virtual locations.