Adult Scifi. A virtual reality simulation about turning into a bird. Read in late 1990's.

[Kris]

I was a sophmore in high school circa 1998 when i read this.
It was about a vr program designer that had run into designers block. He used (or created) some new code that made vr feel exactly like real life. He made a small simulation of walking through a room and transforming into a bird or dove. The sim is a hit and everyone loves it. i remember illegal copies werent the same because you didnt feel the change.
I cant remember anything very certain after that, but i feel that he had somehow opened a 4th dimension in programming or something. Everyone wants to know how he did it, but its revolutionary, and it makes him cautious.
I dont believe it was a “new” book at the time. It was in a minnesota public school library in 1998.
Help if you can. Been trying to find it for 20 years.

[Kris]

Kris, is this book for teens and/or adults? How old is the computer programmer? (I added date read to the topic header.)

[Kris]

It was general scifi, not YA. The protagonist was middle aged. He had a wife or girlfriend if i recall.