It has been a long time since the colonization of Mars was only a point of discussion in science fiction. Today, with the omnipresent topic of the climate change, some people picture Mars as a viable alternative to Earth. This paper describes the major challenges of living on Mars, and explains the implementation of a virtual reality experience on the red planet, built upon those challenges. The interactive simulation confronts people with the potential problems on Mars, and this paper discusses and evaluates the impact on the players opinions as well as their reactions. Results show, that the VR experience affects peoples perception of Mars, however the general desire to settle Mars remains.