Taking head tracking realism to the next level

[Skoshi Tiger]

Very interesting topic MikkOwl,

One of the interesting things (to me at least) would be how unreliable our Vestibular system is when we get into an aircraft. (see second link).

Even though I've only done about 3 hours in simulated instument flying (with the hood on!) I can attest that it is a constant battle of will power to disregard the seat-of-the-pants feeling that you are experiencing and concentrate on the instruments. (I'm sure it becomes second nature as you gain experience but I didn't get to that point (yet))

I have very vivid memories of my first instrument exercise where we were flying in the training area and the instructor pulled the hood from behind the steat and told me to put it on. The next half hour was extreamly intense trying to follow the instructors instructions. When he finally told me to lift the hood we were on short finals and he said "Now land the plane!". By the end of it I had no idea where we were or where we had been (and was getting one of the few cases of air sickness that have had ) , I had just followed the instructions.

One of the problems with our vestibular sences is that even in straight and level flight just engine vibration can cause false feelings of motions and (as stated in the second link) if the plane is very gently moving off course our inner ears can't pick up the motion.

It may even be possible to simulate some of the feeling using sound system to produce the spurious feeling in our inner ears?

Good topic MikkOwl

Cheers!

P.S. I haven't got motion sickness from a flight sim yet, but I can only play half an hour of FPS like call of duty before I start to feel queezy!

[jermin]

You can easily get the vestibular/somatogyral illusions in Lock On, especially in foggy days. Flying above 4000 meters, you can't even distinguish the horizontal line. The sky and the ground is jointed very smoothly just like you are flying in a large vague ball. When your feeling is different from the instrument readings, you have to persuade yourself to trust the instruments, though it is very painful.