Whether swooping over sprawling landscapes or careering through space, an hour spent on Icaros – a virtual reality at-home gym that claims to exercise both mind and body – promises to be a truly holistic workout. Is this what the future of fitness looks like, or is it just another VR gimmick?

There’s a famous experiment in which people are asked to count the number of times a basketball is bounced, and they're so busy counting, they miss a man dressed as a gorilla dance in front of them. Samsung used a similar experiment to showcase its VR headset at Mobile World Congress 2016.

While the advent of virtual reality and devices like Oculus Rift are awe-inspiring, many find it difficult to see the real world applications. Icaros is a new device that intends to change that by gamifying the experience of simultaneously training your mind and your body.

2015 will see an avalanche of virtual reality devices appear in the mass market, with the likes of Sony, Google, Facebook and Microsoft targeting gamers across the globe. The technology may now be an attainable reality, but will it be used for anything beyond video games?