I'm waiting to see if anyone brings up 'The Last Policeman' trilogy. It's a pre-apocalyptic noir about a detective investigating a murder while an asteroid is headed for Earth. The VR angle is subtle—the impending doom creates a shared, global altered state of consciousness, a kind of psychological reality where normal rules no longer apply.
The 'virtual' is the collective awareness of the end, which distorts society, law, and personal motivation. It's less about tech and more about how a massive, imminent event can make the entire world feel like a simulation running on borrowed time.