Is it possible to pair a PS Vita to a PS4 Remotely for remote-play?

Question

I recently bought a PS4 and have been looking into buying a PS Vita for remote play while I am on business trips. However, before I was able pull the trigger (pun intended) and go buy a Vita, I was pulled away again on another trip. Normally I would happy just waiting until I returned home but my trip was extended an additional week so it will be at least another 10 days before I am able to buy the vita and be home to pair it with my PS4.

This got me to wondering that if I bought the Vita during my trip if there was any way that I may be able to pair it remotely. I have read a few sites that have stated that you must be at the location of the PS4 in order to pair the devices but I was curious if there was any way around this.

My question is does anyone know exactly which mechanism the vita uses to pair with the PS4; Bluetooth, Wifi, Other? Would I be able to use some sort of tunnel such as a VPN to 'fake' my location to being at home so that the devices could pair with each other? I do have a tech-savvy roommate at home that would be able to set up such a connection if we can verify that 'remote pairing' is even possible.

Answer 1

In order to pair up your Vita to your PS4, you will need to get both of them to pair up with each other. During the process, your PS4 will generate a code; you'll have a couple of minutes to provide your Vita with that code. Because of that, you will have to operate both devices concurrently; it's likely not possible without a partner.

Both devices also need to be on the same network, which should be achievable through VPN. Unfortunately, the PS Vita does not support VPN connections, although it seems that it can still use a VPN connection by sharing its connection with another computer (not sure if this actually works, so use at your own peril). However, I doubt Remote Play will be playable through a VPN connection, as lags and sudden disconnections are going to happen quite a lot; I've experienced some slight lags while playing right in front of my PS4 (which also happens to be right next to my wireless antenna).

One important fact to note, is that you have to use the same PSN account on your PS Vita as on your PS4, and whichever account your PS Vita has, will be the account it can be used on, on the PS4. In other words:
If your PS4 contains accounts A, B, and C (A being the PS4 Owner), your PS Vita must either have account A, B or C, and will only be usable for that very same account; so you can't play as A over your Vita, if your Vita has B.

As for the technology the PS Vita uses to pair with the PS4, it's WiFi. The PS4 even has an option to "connect directly to the PS Vita using a WiFi connection".

Answer 2

I haven't tried it, but in theory that sounds possible--according to the documentation, it's possible to pair them by being connected to the same local access point, rather than with a direct wifi connection generated by the PS4 (although both work). So it sounds like it's not Bluetooth (I can verify that it works even if Bluetooth is turned off on your Vita), and it doesn't necessarily require a direct wifi connection, so if you could use a VPN to make them think they were connected to the same access point, that would likely work.