The Virtuality brand began life in 1985 as a garage startup called W Industries, founded by Dr. Jonathan Waldern. The company developed many of the principal components including VR headsets, graphics subsystems, 3D trackers, exoskeleton data gloves and other enclosure designs. Fully developed by 1990, the VR integrated systems were launched at a computer graphics show at crystal palace and marketed to industry. The first two networked VR systems were sold to British Telecom Research Laboratories to experiment with networked telepresence applications. Many other systems were sold to corporations including Ford, IBM, Mitsubishi and Olin. Professional virtual reality systems included the launch of the Ford Galaxy in virtual reality and a virtual trading floor for the London International Financial Futures and Options Exchange (LIFFE). However, the users' thrill of talking and mutually interacting with each other as virtual characters refocused the company's direction.

There are two types of units (referred to by the company as "pods"): One where the player stands up (SU), and the other where they sit down (SD). Both unit types utilize virtual reality headsets (the "Visette") which each contain two LCD screens at resolutions of 276x372 each. Four speakers and a microphone were also built into the unit.[4] The SU units have a Polhemus 'Fast Track' magnetic source built into the waist high ring with a receiver in a free-moving joystick (the "Space Joystick"), while the SD design has the player sitting down with joysticks, a steering wheel, or aircraft yoke for control, depending on the game. The SD system was developed and launched in 1993 at Wembley Stadium in London.

The 2000SU and SD models were introduced in 1994, powered by an Intel 486-PC and using Motorola 88110 processors for graphics rendering. They have several more games, including Dactyl Nightmare 2 - Race For The Eggs!, Zone Hunter and Pac-Man VR.

There was also a 3000 series which was basically a 2000 Series machine upgraded with faster processor (Intel Pentium) and a rifle-type controller. They were offered in 2 Versions, a "normal" SU-3000 with a generic rifle-type controller and a "Total Recoil" Version with an official Winchester Replica Rifle-type controller that featured a CO2 powered Blowback mechanism. The "Total recoil" Version came with the game package "Quickshot Carnival" which featured Clay shooting and other target practice. The "normal" generic-rifle version came with the game "Zero Hour" which was a First person shooter "on Rails" that was tailor made for the gun controller.

Using the magnetic tracking system the stereoscopic display was able to react to head movements to change the display based on what the player would be "looking at" within the gaming environment. The position of the joystick (also magnetically tracked) controls movement of the player's "virtual hand", and a button on the joystick moves the player forwards in the game arena..

There were five group subsidiaries. In 1997, rights to the entertainment machines (but not the Virtuality brand) were sold to CyberMind UK in a breakup of the group owing to a dramatic slump in demand for the expensive (then $65,000) theme park and Arcade machines, causing the manufacturing division (called Virtuality Entertainment) insolvency. Thereafter CyberMind UK was sold to Arcadian Virtual Reality LLC. Arcadian operated in the US until 2012 when it was then acquired by ViRtuosityTech, Inc.