How to set sensitivity and smoothing for head tracking

When you first try head tracking, the view feels either too fast or too slow. A few minutes of tuning changes that feeling completely. This post covers how we choose the two basic settings: sensitivity and smoothing. Once these are right, finer settings like response curves often aren't needed.

Why sensitivity isn't 1×

With head tracking your eyes always stay on the screen. In real life, if you turned your head 90° to the right you couldn't see the monitor. So the in-game view has to turn wider than your head. You turn your head a little, your eyes keep looking at the middle of the screen, and the in-game view turns all the way over your shoulder. Sensitivity sets that ratio.

An easy way to work out sensitivity

You need two angles:

• Comfortable head angle: how far can you turn your head while still seeing the middle of the screen without straining your eyes? It depends on your desk and screen size; for most people it's between 30° and 45°.
• Desired game angle: how far do you want to look in the game? In a truck you need 60-70° for the right mirror; in a fighter you need 135° or more to check your six.

Divide the second angle by the first. If you can comfortably turn 35° and want to look 80° in the game, yaw sensitivity should be around 2.3×. In the app you can set sensitivity between 0.2× and 4×.

If you sit closer to the screen or your screen is wide, your comfortable head angle grows and a lower sensitivity is enough. On a small screen and from further away, you need a higher value.

A separate value for each axis

Keeping all three axes at the same sensitivity rarely works well:

• Yaw (left-right): this is the widest movement. The highest sensitivity usually goes here.
• Pitch (up-down): you look up and down less. When it's high, the view shakes even when you talk or breathe. Half to three quarters of yaw is a good start.
• Roll (tilt): most games use it little, and when they do, a high value makes you dizzy. We recommend keeping it low.

If an axis works backwards, for example the view goes left when you turn right, tick that axis's Invert box. If you've completed the setup wizard, you usually won't need to.

What smoothing does

Even when your head seems perfectly still, it's actually making tiny movements all the time. Your pulse, breathing and muscle tension cause them. When sensitivity is high, these tiny movements show up as jitter in the game. Smoothing filters that jitter out.

Every filter adds some lag. Simple smoothing makes the view trail behind when you turn your head quickly. That's why the app uses a filter that adapts to speed. While your head is still, smoothing works hard and removes jitter. When you turn your head quickly, the filter loosens by itself and the view follows without lag.

Choosing smoothing

• 40-60%: the best range for most people and most games. It's the range we use too.
• Higher: helps when reading instruments in civil flying or when playing with high sensitivity. You may feel a slight softness on quick looks.
• Lower: lower it in fast games like combat flying and racing when response matters. If jitter in the center increases, you can calm the center with a response curve.

Common mistakes

• Trying to fix jitter by lowering sensitivity: the jitter drops, but looking to the edges gets harder. Try smoothing or a response curve first.
• Setting smoothing to the maximum: the view starts to feel like it's "floating". Some people feel that as dizziness.
• A loosely mounted device: if the device moves on the headset, no setting fully fixes jitter. Make sure it sits firmly.

Your sensitivity and smoothing settings are saved to the profile. If you create a profile for each game, each game keeps its own settings. For finer tuning, see our response curve post.