What helps with the sensation of speed on landing?

[Gregg_Seipp 565]

Somebody brought this up recently.  Sometimes when landing, especially big-iron, it's like you're floating slowly into the airport even though you're at 140 knots.  I have feeling it has something to do with textures and detail...as more detail comes into view your eyes sort of realize that you're closer to the ground and moving faster.  As grass and pavement get more defined, etc.  What, if anything, do you do to cause it get a better sense of speed?

[anden145 2,284]

I'm not really sure, that there's anything wrong with the sensation of speed in flight simulators. 

 

To put it simply, driving 30 mph in a Fiat 500 feels hell of a lot faster, than 30 mph in a bus.  :wink:

[kakusso 12]

VR with Flyinside.

[simmerhead 885]

Two words: Wide view.

 

You need a triple monitor setup to really feel the speed (An ultrawide monitor helps as well). 

 

And bigger is better. Sense of scale is important. 

[cmpbellsjc 2,960]

Somebody brought this up recently. Sometimes when landing, especially big-iron, it's like you're floating slowly into the airport even though you're at 140 knots. I have feeling it has something to do with textures and detail...as more detail comes into view your eyes sort of realize that you're closer to the ground and moving faster. As grass and pavement get more defined, etc. What, if anything, do you do to cause it get a better sense of speed?

I've actually compared this from sim to real life. Usually when flying in airliners I get a window seat and using my phone video tape the landings. I've them flown the same thing in the sim and viewed from the wing view and compared to my video and the sense of speed seems about the same to me.

 

I think that when your in the air going 140 kts it just doesn't look that fast because you don't have trees and building whizzing past you like you would if your going 140 kts in a car on the freeway.

 

I've watched some YouTube airline cockpit videos of landings and they don't look much different as far as sense of speed either compared to landing in the sim.

[simmerhead 885]

I think that when your in the air going 140 kts it just doesn't look that fast because you don't have trees and building whizzing past you like you would if your going 140 kts in a car on the freeway.

 

I've watched some YouTube airline cockpit videos of landings and they don't look much different as far as sense of speed either compared to landing in the sim.

 

It is fast, I can tell you. You really feel the speed when you're in the cockpit and buzz the roof of buildings and pass cars on the street when landing. YouTube video - or any video - will not give you any sensation of speed unless they film it with a multiple camera setup (IMAX etc.) and you watch it on a wide cinema. 

 

Human field of vision is about 180 degrees, although just a tiny bit of that is in focus, you can see and feel the movement going on in the out of focus areas. To get any real sense of speed in the simulator, you simply need to have monitors that enables you to see things as close to real life as possible. That means field of view as close to 180 degrees as possible, and the size of the screens need to be so that what you see on screen is as close to 1:1 in scale to the real life objects at a "neutral" zoom setting. A neutral zoom setting means that distances in front of you aren't compressed or exaggerated.

 

George, you should borrow a couple of monitors and try it for yourself. 

 

[Bobsk8 12,566]

Have you ever sat in a real cockpit at a 140 knot approach speed?  If you have, you wouldn't have asked this question. 

[jfmitch 33]

Got to agree with Bobsk8.  It's a really a matter of the human brain playing tricks because it has no reference points to judge speed.

[JLSeagull 191]

You could always try leaving the gear up Gregg!  The sense of speed at 6 inches above the runway looks quite amazing. 

 

https://youtu.be/5McECUtM8fw

[Gregg_Seipp 565]

 

 

You could always try leaving the gear up Gregg! The sense of speed at 6 inches above the runway looks quite amazing.

 

LOL

[WebMaximus 372]

As someone else already suggested a couple of VR glasses such as Oculus Rift and the FlyInside software will increase the immersion both when it comes to speed but also in every other aspect in the most amazing way!

 

Personally I never got myself anything for the flight simulator that increased the sense of immersion and realism more than these VR glasses.

[Mephic 129]

put this on the desk  and fly Trike ;-)

[BlueStar 323]

The sense of speed and depth perception come from your peripheral vision.   

 

blaustern

[hesynergy 67]

Somebody brought this up recently.  Sometimes when landing, especially big-iron, it's like you're floating slowly into the airport even though you're at 140 knots.  I have feeling it has something to do with textures and detail...as more detail comes into view your eyes sort of realize that you're closer to the ground and moving faster.  As grass and pavement get more defined, etc.  What, if anything, do you do to cause it get a better sense of speed?

fly X-Plane 11

 

C

[Lenny777 299]

Somebody brought this up recently.  Sometimes when landing, especially big-iron, it's like you're floating slowly into the airport even though you're at 140 knots.  I have feeling it has something to do with textures and detail...as more detail comes into view your eyes sort of realize that you're closer to the ground and moving faster.  As grass and pavement get more defined, etc.  What, if anything, do you do to cause it get a better sense of speed?

Real sense of speed, depth, height, the size of your aircraft - as some posters noted VR is where it's at. I use Rift with Flyinside.