Derren Brown’s Ghost Train has the longest list of safety warnings of any ride in Thorpe Park. Gothic script forbodes dire things to come: “Dark scenes of twisted perception…not suitable for guests with any psychological or neurological disorders.”
“That’s a long list,” I say, squinting at the sign in the Sun.
The Thorpe Park attendant laughs at my bemusement. “It has to be, because it’s not like any of the regular ride. It’s new.”
She’s right, in one sense. Virtual reality is a new medium, a novelty to most people; just beginning to make its way into zones of mass consumption and entertainment. But this isn’t the first time Derren Brown’s Ghost Train – or, to give it its full name, Derren Brown’s Ghost Train: Rise of the Demon – has been shown to the public. It was revealed last year to great excitement. Such was the level of anticipation that fans looking for details hacked Thorpe Park’s social media. When the ride eventually opened, though, customers discovered a problem. It just wasn’t scary enough.
“We did it at eight out of 10, rather than pushing it to 10 out of 10,” Jordan from the Thorpe Park media team tells me when we meet in the car park, largely empty for a Thursday afternoon. “And then the feedback was, ‘We thought it was going to be scarier,’ so we were like, ‘Right, well, then!’” You turned it up to eleven? I say. Jordan nods. “Literally.”
That’s what I’m here to see: the scariest virtual realityride “ever”, which one its creator promises will “scare the shit out of guests”. I’m also here to see what Brown has done with this new art form – to see what a master magician makes with a medium that contains modern computing’s most powerful illusions. It turns out he makes something brilliantly old-fashioned. And in this, there is a clue to VR’s best use, its long sought-after “killer app.”
The Ghost Train takes 60 people at a time. After a brief moment of queuing, we squeeze into a wood-panelled room, done up in the style of an 1870s American train carriage. Students mutter sarcastically, showing off to their friends. Then, we begin, with a talk from Derren himself, or rather his hologram, projected on a screen.
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A VR still from the first part of the Ghost Train, where the action is seen as if through night vision goggles. | Thorpe Park
“You are going to find yourself in a unique experience,” he intones, before finishing with a piece of advice: “If you do find yourself slipping down a rabbit hole, if it all gets too much, close your eyes, it’ll be easy.”
Warning over, we are ready for the ride begin – and suddenly, it does, with attendants dressed in engine-stoker uniforms hurrying us through a corridor onto an old-fashioned train, strung up by chains across a bed of dark grey gravel. Onto the train, we rush – and once we get there it turns out to be a London tube carriage, complete with geometric-patterned seats and uniform-clad guards. Why this design is not exactly clear (maybe it was all they had?), but the modern setting is far creepier than creaky Victoriania.
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Source: Wired UK