Transition activities, such as design reviews, are often utilised in product development to evaluate the conducted work and plan future actions. While key decisions are made during these activities, they are still underexplored. This paper studies the effect of transition goals and virtual reality (VR) on transition team performance. In an experimental study, four-member teams conducted two transition-related experimental tasks (validation and verification) working in one of the two conditions (VR or desktop interface). The results show that transition goals and VR affect performance. More specifically, the validation-oriented transition was more efficient but less effective than the verification one. Furthermore, the performance of the validation-oriented transition compared to the verification one was increased in VR and decreased in a desktop interface. Finally, the high-performing teams consistently discussed new issues, while low-performing teams had prolonged moments of not discussing anything new. These findings suggest that desktop interface and VR are not substitutable but rather complementary technologies.