Will 2017 be the year virtual reality gets real?

From the high-end Oculus Rift to Google and Samsung's cheaper offerings, VR is aiming for the mainstream. What next?

Virtual Reality is ... well, real. The last year has seen the launch of every major VR platform, from high-quality tethered systems like HTC's Vive and Facebook's Oculus Rift, through to cheap-and-cheerful smartphone-based platforms like Google's Daydream and Samsung's Gear VR.

The early adopters have bought in, the launch games have been launched, and now that the initial flurry of excitement has died down, the more pressing questions are left: how will the platforms evolve? What will you actually be able to do with them? And is VR just a stepping stone anyway, to the even more science-fiction future of augmented reality tech?