When you're out in the real world, you fell like you're driving fast when you hit speeds of over 80 mph. But when you're racing in your computer or console, how come 150 mph feels slow?

Let's explore the dynamics of driving fast, why it's harder to feel virtually, what game developers are doing, what you can do to make your racing games appear more immersive and realistic.

What Does It Mean to "Feel" Fast?

Feeling fast differs from being actually fast. For example, riding a small motorbike at 25 miles per hour feels way quicker than sitting in the back of an airliner cruising at 600 miles per hour. But why is this so? It is all down to speed perception.

According to a PLOS.org journal article, the more information our brain receives at any moment, the more we think we are at a higher speed. So, sitting on a little motorcycle with stiff suspension, you'll feel every bump and dip in the road. Adding the loud sounds of the engine right under you, and the wide vista from sitting on an open vehicle, makes riding a motorbike certainly feel fast.

With all these sensations bombarding your brain, you'll think that you're going way faster than you are. But when you take those sensory queues away, you'll feel that you're going slowly, or even at a standstill.

two riders sitting on a fast motorcycle

Compare this with airliners. Since we design them for comfort, aircraft makers try to remove as much of the noise, vibration, and harshness that passengers feel. The engines are several feet away from the cabin, and you only get a side-facing window.

That's why, even if you're flying at 85% of the speed of sound, motorbikes feel faster than aircraft. Most of the sensory inputs go away after take-off, meaning your perception of speed changes.

landing airliner on a flight simulator

This isn't what you want when you're playing racing games. When you're on a virtual race track, you want to push yourself and your car to the limits. You want to feel the adrenaline rushing through your veins as you defeat your opponents and clinch the pole position.

Here's what you can do to improve your gaming experience and gaming rig, letting you get the most out of every race.

1. Increase Your Field of View

2020 Chevrolet Corvette C8 driving on a road in Forza Horizon 5

An increased field of view offers a wider vista of the landscape you're on. You can see more of the environment, thus adding more visual cues for your brain to process. That's why it feels faster if you choose the chase camera or hood camera point-of-view over the first-person driver view.

For example, if you use the driver cam in your game, you're either limiting or removing your peripheral vision altogether. This reduces the feeling of speed because you're losing the illusion of seeing the landscape fly by as you're driving fast.

By using the most expansive field of view possible in your game, like using the far chase cam or the hood cam, then you can see the landscape rushing around your car. This visual effect, in turn, adds to the visual sensation of going fast.

2. Use an Ultrawide or Multiple Monitors

A Ferrari crashing into a lamp post in Need for Speed Heat

You can further increase your field of view by either using an ultrawide monitor, multiple monitors, or a combination of both. That's because these displays force the game to deliver a more expansive view, thus adding to the feeling of speed and immersion.

This kind of setup increases your peripheral view. When using a standard 16:9 monitor, your peripheral vision is at most a third of the screen. But if you have an ultrawide monitor, you can get aspect ratios of 21:9 or 32:9, thus letting you see more of your surroundings.

A triple-monitor display can further enhance the feeling of going fast since you can angle the secondary monitors to give you a wrap-around view. They also provide broader views, with three Full HD monitors offering an effective 48:9 aspect ratio.

3. Add Motion Blur

Motion blur and FOV settings in Forza Horizon 5

There's a lot of debate about adding motion blur in games. While some people like it, many more feel it is unnecessary. This effect helps make the game feel faster, especially for computers and displays with low or limited frame rates.

While we don't recommend this effect for FPS or RPG games, it is different with racing games, where your focus is usually at the center of your screen. The motion blur effect tricks your brain into thinking that you're faster than you really are, thus adding to the game's immersion.

However, as computers and screens improve their frame rates, this effect might soon be redundant. That's because games with refresh rates at 144Hz or higher have much smoother movement, making the blur natural, thus negating the need to add a motion blur effect.

4. Use a Gaming Headset

A Gaming Headset

Since most gaming rigs don't have a way to replicate the g-forces and other physical sensations in racing, most racing games rely heavily on visual cues to deliver on the feeling of going fast. But aside from that, you can also use auditory cues to enhance this sensation further.

Racing games use excellent sound design to make you feel you're driving at the limits of your car's capabilities. They do this by mixing the engine sound, road noise, and even the swoosh of the passing wind. These auditory effects combine with the visuals of driving at 200 mph along a small country road to deliver the emotion of driving at a knife's edge of controllability.

So, to maximize the game's sound design, use a gaming or noise-cancelling headset that isolates you from your room. By focusing your sight and hearing on the race, you'll maximize the feeling of driving fast.

The Answer to Your Need for Speed

Many of us play racing games to get the feeling of going fast without spending so much, risking our lives, or breaking the law. That's why racing is a popular gaming niche, with many AAA titles and franchises to choose from.

So, if you feel that your car isn't going fast in your racing game, then maybe all you need to do is tweak some settings, get a bigger monitor, and use your gaming headset. With that, you get a better driving experience, all in the safety of your room.