Comfort & health
Snap turning
Also known as snap turn, step turning, smooth turning, artificial turning
Snap turning rotates your view in fixed steps, such as 30 or 45 degrees, each time you flick the thumbstick, instead of turning smoothly, which many players find far more comfortable.
In VR you can turn your real body, but when you are seated, tethered by a cable or want to avoid twisting, games let you rotate with the thumbstick. Snap turning does this in instant jumps. Flick the stick right and your view jumps a set angle; flick again to turn further.
Snap versus smooth turning
- Snap turning skips the in-between motion, so your eyes do not see a continuous rotation your inner ear cannot feel. This makes it one of the most effective comfort settings against motion sickness.
- Smooth turning rotates the view continuously, which feels more natural to experienced players but is a strong trigger for discomfort in many people.
Settings to look for
Most games let you set the snap angle, often in steps such as 15, 30, 45 or 90 degrees. Smaller angles feel more precise; larger ones need fewer flicks. Some games add a brief fade to black during each snap for extra comfort.
A note on cables
Players on wired PC VR headsets often prefer snap turning because it reduces how often they physically spin and tangle the cable.
Related terms
- Comfort settings
- Comfort settings are in-game and system options, such as teleport movement, snap turning and vignettes…
- Motion sickness in VR
- VR motion sickness is nausea, dizziness or sweating that happens when your eyes see movement your body does not feel…
- PC VR
- PC VR means virtual reality that is rendered by a Windows gaming PC and sent to a headset…