Motion Feels Wrong, Weak, or Too Strong

If the motion from your simulator doesn’t feel right, use this guide to diagnose and fix the issue.

Step 1: Identify the Problem

Start by asking yourself which of these best describes your issue:

Symptom	Likely Cause	Jump To
Motion is too strong / violent	Gains too high, or Input Limits not set	Too Much Motion
Motion is too weak / barely noticeable	Gains too low, Global Gain reduced, or wrong profile	Too Little Motion
Motion feels delayed or laggy	Too much smoothing, or high system latency	Delayed Motion
An axis moves in the wrong direction	Inverted axis in sim config, or wrong motor direction	Wrong Direction
Motion doesn’t match what’s happening in-game	Wrong sim config dimensions, wrong profile, or telemetry issue	Motion Doesn’t Match Game

Too Much Motion

If the simulator moves too aggressively or feels uncomfortable:

Lower Global Gain — Go to Settings → Motion → Global Gain and reduce the value. This scales all motion output proportionally.
Lower Input Gain — In Settings → Motion → Input Gain, reduce this value to tame aggressive telemetry from certain games before it reaches motion processing.
Reduce per-cue gains — Open the Profile Editor and lower the Gain slider on the cues contributing the most motion (typically Primary and Ground).
Set Input Limits — On each axis contributor within a cue, set an Input Limit to cap incoming telemetry values. For typical cars, try 10–20 m/s² for acceleration contributors. This prevents extreme in-game events (like crashes) from causing violent motion spikes.
Increase Smoothing — Add smoothing to the dominant axes to reduce sharp peaks. Start with values around 20–30.

Too Little Motion

If the simulator barely moves or motion feels underwhelming:

Check Global Gain — Go to Settings → Motion → Global Gain. If it’s set below 1.00, that’s scaling all motion down. A keyboard or controller shortcut may have reduced it without you noticing.
Check Input Gain — In Settings → Motion → Input Gain, make sure this is set to 1.00 unless you deliberately lowered it.
Check per-cue gains — Open the Profile Editor and verify that the Gain on each cue and each axis contributor is set to a reasonable value (not 0 or very low).
Is the right profile selected? — Make sure you’re using a profile appropriate for your simulator type. A profile tuned for a hexapod will feel very different on a seat mover.
Check sim config dimensions — Go to the Sim Config tab and verify that your travel distances and axis limits match your physical hardware. If the configured travel is much larger than your actual hardware, the motion will appear weak because the system thinks it has more range than it does.
Verify telemetry is coming in — Open the Source Data dock (Settings → User Interface → Show UI Docks → Source Data) and confirm that values are changing while you’re in-game. If all values are zero, the issue is with telemetry — see Game Telemetry Not Connecting.
Check Sim Position dock — Open the Sim Position dock to see if the computed output positions are actually moving. If Source Data shows activity but Sim Position shows minimal movement, the issue is in your profile or sim config tuning.

Delayed Motion

If the motion feels sluggish or doesn’t respond quickly to in-game events:

Reduce Smoothing — In the Profile Editor, check the Smoothing value on each axis contributor. High smoothing values (above 30–40) can introduce noticeable delay. Try values below 20 for more responsive motion.
Check Washout — High washout values can slow down the return to center, making motion feel less responsive. Try setting washout to 0 on the Primary cue unless you specifically need it.
Check system performance — If your PC is under heavy load, processing time may increase. Check the Refresh Rate in Settings → General — the default is 2 ms (500 Hz). If you’re experiencing performance issues, see Performance & Latency Issues.
Use the Chart Visualizer to diagnose — Open the Chart Visualizer dock and add two series: one for the raw telemetry value (e.g., lateral acceleration from Source Data) and one for the corresponding processed output (e.g., sway from Sim Position). If there’s a visible delay between the two traces, smoothing or processing is the cause.

Wrong Direction

If an axis moves the opposite way from what you expect (e.g., turning left makes the simulator lean right when it should lean left):

Use Manual Control to verify — Select Manual Control from the Sources tab and click Start Motion. Open the Manual Control dock and move each axis slider one at a time. Verify that:
- Positive sway moves the platform to the right
- Positive surge moves the platform forward
- Positive heave moves the platform up
- Positive pitch tilts the front up
- Positive roll tilts the right side down
- Positive yaw rotates clockwise when viewed from above
Check motor directions in Sim Config — If an axis moves in the wrong direction during Manual Control, go to the Sim Config tab and check the Motor Direction settings. Flip the direction on the affected axis.
Check output port mapping — In the Outputs tab, verify that each output port is mapped to the correct actuator. If ports are swapped, axes may appear to move in unexpected directions.

Motion Doesn’t Match the Game

If the motion generally works but doesn’t correspond well to what’s happening on screen:

Verify the correct game source is selected — On the main tab, make sure you’ve selected the right game from the source dropdown. If the wrong source is selected, DR Sim Manager may be listening for data from a different game.
Check that telemetry is correct — Open the Source Data dock and watch the values while playing. Do the acceleration values change when you brake or turn? Does angular velocity change when you rotate? If the values don’t match your in-game actions, the game’s telemetry output may need configuration — check the Sources page for your game.
Check your sim config dimensions — Go to the Sim Config tab and verify that the configured dimensions (actuator spacing, travel distances) match your physical hardware. Incorrect dimensions cause the motion system to calculate wrong positions.
Check your profile — Make sure you’re using a profile designed for your simulator type. Hexapod profiles are tuned differently from quadpost or seat mover profiles. Try a default profile first to establish a baseline.

Axis-by-Axis Troubleshooting

Roll feels wrong

Roll is inverted: Check motor directions in Sim Config. Use Manual Control to verify positive roll tilts the right side down.
Roll is too aggressive on curbs/rumble strips: Lower the Ground cue gain, or increase smoothing on roll in the Ground cue.
Roll doesn’t respond to turning: Make sure the Primary cue’s lateral acceleration contributor to roll is enabled and has a non-zero gain.

Pitch feels wrong

Pitch is inverted: Verify with Manual Control — positive pitch should tilt the front up. Adjust motor directions in Sim Config.
Pitch surges on acceleration/braking: Lower the Primary cue’s longitudinal acceleration contributor gain, or set a tighter Input Limit.
Pitch feels disconnected from braking: Check that the longitudinal acceleration contributor to pitch is enabled in your Primary cue.

Heave feels wrong

Heave is too bouncy: Reduce gain on the vertical acceleration contributor in the Primary and Ground cues. Increase smoothing if needed.
Heave doesn’t respond to bumps: Check that the Ground cue is enabled and has a reasonable gain. The Ground cue handles surface texture and bumps.
Heave hits limits constantly: Check the Sim Position dock — if heave regularly reaches its maximum, reduce the heave gain or increase the configured heave travel in Sim Config.

Yaw feels wrong

Yaw is too aggressive on traction loss: Lower the Variant cue gain or the traction loss contributor gain.
Yaw doesn’t rotate during spins: Make sure the Advanced Yaw cue is enabled if your simulator supports yaw rotation.
Yaw only works in some games: Not all games provide yaw telemetry. Check the Source Data dock for yaw-related values while playing.

Sway / Surge feel wrong

Lateral motion is too strong in corners: Lower the sway gain in the Primary cue, or set a lower Input Limit on the lateral acceleration contributor.
Surge pushes too hard under braking: Lower the surge gain in the Primary cue, or apply more smoothing to the longitudinal acceleration contributor.

Diagnostic Tools Reference

Tool	How to Open	What It Shows
Source Data dock	Settings → User Interface → Show UI Docks → Source Data	Raw telemetry values from the game — confirms whether the game is sending correct data
Sim Position dock	Settings → User Interface → Show UI Docks → Sim Position	Current simulator position on each axis — confirms motion processing output
Manual Control dock	Select “Manual Control” as source, then open the dock	Direct axis control via sliders — use to verify hardware directions and range
Chart Visualizer dock	Settings → User Interface → Show UI Docks → Chart Visualizer	Time-series plot of telemetry and output data — use to spot delays, spikes, and tuning issues
Debug Log dock	Settings → User Interface → Show UI Docks → Debug Log	Application messages including safety filter and overallocation warnings
Sim Visualizer dock	Settings → User Interface → Show UI Docks → Sim Visualization	3D model of your simulator moving in real time — visual confirmation of motion

Detailed Tuning

For a comprehensive step-by-step approach to getting your motion feeling great, follow the Motion Tuning Guide. It covers:

Isolating and tuning one axis at a time
Building up from a single cue to a full profile
Using smoothing and input limits to refine the feel
Monitoring safety filter and overallocation warnings