The sense of speed inside and outside the cockpit

[Basher11]

All this time, since I came to know about Flight Simulation Games, I have this question which by far nobody has given me an answer that I can understand.

 

Let's take this game as an example, when you ride inside the cockpit and you look out to the ground, don't you find that objects are passing by at a very slow rate?  Even you are riding at 450 knots, it looks like everything are in slow motion UNTIL...UNTIL you accelerate the time to 8X.  This happens not only to this game, but many many other EXCEPT perhaps LOMAC.

 

What are the possible causes of this phenomenon ?

Edited April 4, 2008 by Basher11

[+FastCargo]

Usually, it's a result of 2 things:

 

Scale - ground items tend to end up bigger in the sim than they would be in real life, otherwise they would be damn near impossible to see due to the limitations of the monitor screen.

 

FOV - Field of view. Most sims fly with a 'close up' of the cockpit area. This 'zoom in' partially causes the sort of 'loss of speed' that you feel.

 

To combat this...try zooming out a bit from the default view in the cockpit. You'll find the sense of speed to be closer to what it actually is.

 

FastCargo

[Basher11]

Check this one, near the end of the video, shows that the relative speed to the ground seems to produce the sense of speed.

 

Another one is from real life...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rLhRDXZtso&NR=1

 

But I don't understand the field of view factor...

Edited April 4, 2008 by Basher11

[malibu43]

...

 

But I don't understand the field of view factor...

 

Did you try what he suggested? If you did it would make sense.

 

And regarding the videos you posted, the first one is from a first person shooter, so there is a higher level of detail on the terrain. Flight sims don't have that level of detail on the terrain ususally, since that's not what you're looking at most of the time like in a FPS. Also, during the scene I think you are referring to, he is flying at tree-top level. Fly down at 50-100 ft in WOE and it will look similar. Especially if you add the forest and farms mod.

 

It's kind of hard to compare the second video to a flight sim, since there arent' many shots from the cockpit. But it's the pretty much the same as what I said above, they are very low, and there are more things on the ground or water to see zooming past, so it looks faster.

Edited April 4, 2008 by malibu43

[+76.IAP-Blackbird]

It`s simple one thing is the view angle! When you zoom out it feels much better and faster.

 

second thing is the distance! Drive with a car on the highway and look to your left and right and see how fast the objects move. the one that are near you moves faster than the one that are much further away.

 

It`s simple thing of optics. It feels right in WOE and for example in il2 you will see the speed if you fly just a few feets above the ground.

 

Enjoy and try.

[+Fubar512]

First off, an OFP video is not a good example as it's not a realistic flight simulator. Secondly, let me drop a term on you: Terrain Density

 

Looks pretty realistic to me: http://forum.combatace.com/index.php?autoc...si&img=5543

[Basher11]

First off, an OFP video is not a good example as it's not a realistic flight simulator. Secondly, let me drop a term on you: Terrain Density

 

Looks pretty realistic to me: http://forum.combatace.com/index.php?autoc...si&img=5543

 

Yes!  This one seems faster!  So if there are less objects, the sense of speed is back is that is what you mean?

[+Fubar512]

Yes!  This one seems faster!  So if there are less objects, the sense of speed is back is that is what you mean?

 

Of course.

 

Short of using the terrain shaders to give one the impression of density, the terrain in this series appears quite sparse.

 

FastCargo hit the nail on the head, trees are way out of proportion (they appear to be 150-200 feet tall!), and there are 150 foot tall, three-story buildings in the "cities". The aircraft and ground objects (tanks, trucks, ships), though, are set to scale. Watch a tank drive through a grove a trees and you'll see what I mean.

[Basher11]

So put it plainly, it has nothing to do with framerates, so to speak even I use a very very powerful graphics card, it won't spped things up to what we see in the real world?

[+FastCargo]

Correct. It's either inbuilt in the sim (scale of objects) or can be adjusted (field of view).

 

FastCargo

[+Fubar512]

So put it plainly, it has nothing to do with framerates, so to speak even I use a very very powerful graphics card, it won't spped things up to what we see in the real world?

 

In a word, no.

 

Short of using a denser terrain, which only effects the sense of speed at low level, or (assuming you're running the sim in Windows XP and have the shaders on), by using a noisenormal.bmp with a decidedly more aggressive texture, you will not achieve that "feel of speed" you're seeking.

 

I suggest you try Brain32's GermanyCE terrain, which includes CA_Stary's excellent tree and object pack. It helps a lot.

[Basher11]

In a word, no.

 

Short of using a denser terrain, which only effects the sense of speed at low level, or (assuming you're running the sim in Windows XP and have the shaders on), by using a noisenormal.bmp with a decidedly more aggressive texture, you will not achieve that "feel of speed" you're seeking.

 

I suggest you try Brain32's GermanyCE terrain, which includes CA_Stary's excellent tree and object pack. It helps a lot.

 

Alright, is it then fair to say the better, the finest the terrain is, the less the sense of speed is, am I right?

 

About Brian's GermanyCE terrain, can it be ported to SFP1?

[+Fubar512]

Alright, is it then fair to say the better, the finest the terrain is, the less the sense of speed is, am I right?

 

No, the finer it is, (the denser, the more detailed, the higher resolution the tiles are), the closer it is to giving you a proper sense of speed at low level.

 

About Brian's GermanyCE terrain, can it be ported to SFP1?

 

It's meant for WoE, and it requires WoE's Germany CE terrain files to work properly (.cat, target.ini files, etc.).

[Basher11]

Thanks for all the Fubar512.