Enhancing Immersion in Virtual Reality Martial Arts Training: Toward Realistic and Practical Applications

Immersive virtual reality (VR) offers promising opportunities for skill acquisition in complex motor domains, yet its specific potential for martial arts training remains underexplored. This pilot study examined how visual and auditory feedback are associated with subjective immersion and motor performance during the execution of a standardized martial arts sidekick in VR. Ten technically experienced participants completed four training conditions, while full-body kinematics were captured using a synchronized VR-MoCap setup. Subjective ratings of immersion and presence were collected after each condition, and three expert interviews provided complementary qualitative perspectives. Exploratory analyses indicated that high-fidelity visual feedback elicited higher immersion and more stable chamber-phase posture, while voice feedback was associated with smoother timing and improved kick alignment. Experts highlighted multisensory coherence as a key design principle and pointed to concrete opportunities for VR-supported technique refinement. These convergent findings suggest that immersive VR can support technically relevant performance cues in martial arts training while also highlighting design considerations for future high-precision VR coaching systems. As a pilot study, the results provide methodological groundwork and signal directions for larger, confirmatory investigations.