If you want to pull students into a black‑hole VR, cut the hyper‑realism to the minimum that still keeps the physics believable. Use ray‑marching for the horizon, but pre‑compute the main distortions and blend them with a simple shader that runs on a modest GPU. Keep the narrative tight: a short, focused mission that forces them to solve a puzzle that relies on the relativistic effects you’re showing. That way the computational load stays low and the story keeps them hooked.

A quick look‑behind cue works, but make it a single, pre‑rendered overlay instead of a live effect. Keep the shader simple, just shift the hue and add a mild blur, then switch to the main scene. That gives the blueshift punch without pulling on the GPU, and the narrative stays punchy.