WATCH - Get a spaced-out feeling on Alton Towers' new ride: Galactica is out of this world!

Welcome to the opening of Galactica, Alton Towers' latest roller coaster, which is about to take the world by storm.

It's hard to describe the feeling you get as you hurtle around the tracks that once housed Air. At the time Air was the world's first flying-positioned roller coaster.

If you've ever been on that ride you might think you have an idea what this latest venture is all about – think again.

During the one-and-a-half-or-so minute experience you're too busy dodging in and out of worm holes, avoiding space craft and spinning in your jet-propelled spaceship to even remember you are, in fact, flying through the Staffordshire skies, over nothing more than concrete and steel.

While dangling in the air the virtual reality begins to kick in and the first thing that enters your mind is a scene out of Star Wars, as you're slowly transported along what appears to be the outer-layer of a spaceship in preparation for your launch into deep space.

At this point I don't think the creators Simon Reverley and the rest of his team at Figment Productions will mind me saying everything goes a bit nuts.

From staring at the bottom a huge Death Star-style spacecraft – you know it's not really a spacecraft but everything else in your body is telling you it is – suddenly you're launched into the deepest, darkest, depths of space, flying through the sky at breakneck speeds.

Perhaps the best and most bizarre aspect of the whole ride is the fact that rather than everything being focused in front of you – as is the case with most 3D experiences – you're wearing a headset. That means when you move your head to the side, up or down, you catch a whole new virtual scene.

It's the reason why the designers, producers and makers who have already ridden Galactica hundreds of times still get off the ride occasionally having seen a new spaceship, distant star or even a planet.

So much detail has gone into creating this other universe that by simply sitting on the ride with your head tilted to the left would give you a completely different experience to one if you were looking to the right.

The only annoying aspect of the ride is the fact it is over in a flash, although, having been on the ride and also seen a colleague give it a go, it strangely feels like you're on there longer when you're actually experiencing the ride rather than watching.

Not sure what that means or if it's just another virtual reality trick. Whatever the reason, Galactica leaves you wanting more, which is surely what the roller coaster industry is all about.

Simon, who has spent about one-and-a-half years developing his concept, explains how the idea that formed in his head eventually became the ground-breaking experience that is ready to be unleashed on the public for the first time on Thursday.

"When the Samsung Gear VR headset was released we immediately got our hands on one and it occurred to me there was a really good virtual reality headset for the first time, which wasn't attached to a PC," he said.

"We do a lot of work with Merlin, the owners of Alton Towers, and it occurred to me this would be a great idea for a roller coaster."

Although the ride and the equipment is at the top end of the technological spectrum – that wasn't always the case.

"We started off by strapping mobile phones to our chests to get the positional information and that was the beginnings of the project really," said Simon.

"We mentioned the idea to Merlin and asked if there was any chance of borrowing a roller coaster, because they have got a few of them here.

"We came up here and Air was the first thing they had in mind, which eventually evolved into Galactica."

It's not your average ride on a roller coaster but for those of us who haven't got hundreds of thousands of pounds to travel into space with Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic, this is definitely the next best thing.

By James Driver-Fisher