How do you feel about sustained positive g’s/greyout & blackout moments on rides?

Hi guys. From reading around various sites & forums, one thing I’ve noticed is that sustained positive g-forces, or moments on a coaster that make you grey or black out, seem to be quite a polarising sensation, with there being some who absolutely relish the sensation, but there also being others who aren’t a fan of it at all. It’s the reason why things like I305 and the Giovanola hypers, both coasters famous for their huge grey outs, are seemingly so marmite; from what I’ve heard, your like of those rides will likely rest largely on how you feel about grey outs/black outs. So my question to you today is; how do you feel about sustained positive g-forces, or moments that make you grey/black out?


Personally, I’d say it depends on the intensity of the grey out. I’d never say that it was a sensation I particularly enjoy (at best, sustained positives are a sensation I tolerate as opposed to relish), and I think I would enjoy the respective coasters they’re on a little more without them, but I can tolerate some moments of sustained positives better than I can others, and I’d say that that largely depends on the strength of the positives.


For instance, Swarm’s helicopter helix is a moment of fairly strong positives, and as much as I do love Swarm, I would controversially love it even more if this moment wasn’t there (or at least, wasn’t as intense), but it’s not so intense that it really detracts from the ride too much for me. It’s similar with moments like Nemesis’ helix; that’s a moment of fairly strong positives that I’d probably prefer if it wasn’t quite as intense, but it’s not so intense that it detracts massively from the ride for me.


Some other grey outs, on the other hand, really can detract from a ride for me. A particular one that comes to mind for me is Manta at SeaWorld Orlando, where it hurls you through that pretzel loop with what feels like absolutely ridiculous levels of g-force, and makes you grey out for a solid few seconds. I really didn’t enjoy that element at all, and I dare say it was a bit of a ride killer for me in Manta’s case. I’d also say that Revolution at Blackpool’s strong backwards g-forces were something I didn’t find the most pleasant; I’d certainly like that coaster a fair bit less if it wasn’t for the amazing bursts of ejector airtime.


Out of interest, do some of the notoriously grey out inducing coasters like I305 and the Giovanola hypers, as well as other notoriously intense grey outs like Lech Coaster, have positives that feel any more intense than the likes of Nemesis or Swarm? I’m guessing yes, and by a fair distance, given that neither of those coasters have anywhere near the same reputation for grey outs, but I was interested to discover whether Manta is only unpleasant and causes such an unpleasant sensation due to the riding position.


But in conclusion, I certainly wouldn’t say that sustained positives are a sensation I particularly enjoy. I can sometimes tolerate them, but I’d never say I look forward to or relish a moment of sustained positives on a ride, and they’re always moments I could live without on the rides that they’re on.


But how do you personally feel about sustained positives, or greyout moments?

Depends if it's lateral or vertical, the train design, restraint design and track design.

I don't find anything other than the bottom of the first drop particularly intense on the Swarm at all, especially not the Helicopter helix which isn't taken with much speed? Or am I missing something about it? Maybe it's because I've been riding Nemesis since I was 12 years old I've built up a tolerance?

Anyway, if you were to use the Swarm as an example, it's got butter smooth trains and track, well designed transitions, soft restraints and comfortable seats so if someone where to build an intense B&M Wing Rider in this country it would get my vote. The more sustained vertical G's on a coaster like that the merrier for for me.

Then you have uncomfortable coasters, with hard restraints that suddenly throw you into positive verticals or laterals because they're just poorly designed. The Smiler does this quite a bit. I come off with a headache because it just throws you straight into harsh positive vertical G's, sometimes jolting as it does it. I don't like the left turn at the end after the final inversion for example and find that uncomfortable due to the transition into it but I'm not particularly offended by it. I like the slight grey out on the back row of some coasters.

The worst ride I've ever blacked out on was the indoor one at Circus Circus in Vegas. I came off looking like Mr Bean when he went on a roller coaster. The double loop knocked me clean out. Good Times.

Only one I can remember it happening on was Millennium Force, the first couple of drops and turns.

Bottom of Nemesis' helix always gets me. They had the move the on ride photo to there didn't they.

I'm a huge fan. The greyer the better! Nemesis's helix is certainly one of the very best, even with a "constant UK visitor" negative bias - though most of the good B&M inverts have similar sensations (Batman clones, for example). Tatsu's pretzel is another highlight, I adore that element and only regret that one has never been built to that spec in the UK.