Hello everyone! I recently decided to get a T.Flight Hotas One and honestly, it’s really good (I used to use an Xbox controller), but I don’t know anything about how to set the best sensitivity for each aircraft. I mainly use the PMDG 737 and the iniBuilds A320, and I’m not sure what sensitivity to set. Sometimes it feels too responsive, or too slow.
Maybe someone here who has the Hotas One and uses the 737/320 can help me? Or someone with more knowledge about this. I would really appreciate it as it will help me improve and learn better with this joystick.
By the way, I hope I chose the right category and subcategory. I’m new here, and it was a bit tricky LOL.
Hi Jared,
I had a Hotas One as my first experiment beyond a basic joystick, and I learned a lot while flying with that.
Sensitivity and reactivity can be an issue with stick / hotas setups, as you only have a relatively short throw of movement. Most people end up with sensitivity curves something like this:
You can experiment yourself to get precise settings, and try adjusting the reactivity as well. When you have it set up to your preferences, you’ll probably find that once you get used to flying with it and tweak it to perfection then you won’t need to adjust the settings when you change aircraft.
Bear in mind that large and small aircraft do respond at very different speeds, from ponderous airliners down to twitchy aerobatic craft, so the sim is only reflecting that as you fly, as opposed to some aircraft being too quick to respond and others too slow.
Try using something like the 172 or another small, light aircraft like the DA40 or Robin to get it set up so that you feel happy with the responses to your movements. I think once you’ve done that, you’ll be able to fly any plane with the same settings, as it will feel natural and familiar.
Your post was definitely in the right place btw. Good luck and have fun!
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I’ll recap to see if I understood correctly. Basically, you suggest trying with small planes and adjusting the sensitivity until I find the right point? That the sensitivity is mostly curved because the joystick’s movement range is short. Correct?
Yes, spot on.
Because your joystick only moves a few inches in each direction it makes sense to have a sensitivity curve, so that a small movement or gentle pressure on the joystick only gives very small and delicate control inputs to the aircraft.
If you move it fully in one direction you will still get full deflection of the aircraft’s control surfaces, but I don’t think this would be commonly used except for emergency or combat situations. At lower speeds, such as on approach to landing you will need a bit more control input, so a curve like the one above still allows that.
Try the training flights in the 152, the NY discovery flight in the 172 or the Pyrenees bush trip in the DA40, fly around a bit, pause the sim and tweak the sensitivity, start flying again and see how it feels. Experiment with how it looks and feels from inside as well as outside until you’re comfortable with it.
These aircraft are positive but not twitchy, and respond to gentle control inputs with small movements in the air. IRL the controls have more movement than your hotas, so you need to move the yoke, stick or pedals quite a long way to get fill movement of the control surfaces.
If you can find or get the opportunity, try a discovery / taster flight IRL from your nearest airfield or flight school - taking the controls and seeing & feeling the reactions for yourself will make everything easier. I definitely found that, although I was pretty nervy for the first few minutes because it feels very different from the sim when the wind is throwing you around!
Once you’re happy in GA planes, try bigger aircraft or a tubeliner - you should still feel comfortable with the controls I think, but their reactions will naturally be slower due to size, weight, inertia etc., as well as passenger comfort.
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Thank you very much, man! You’ve been very kind and that advice helped me a lot. I appreciate it a lot!
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Great to see the courteous help and camararderie of MSFS
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No worries, and I hope it was useful.
