Jerk
A human arm cannot change how fast it is accelerating instantly. It ramps up and eases off. Jerk measures how sudden the sharpest change was.
How abrupt was the sharpest change in the aim's speed?
Crosshair speedIllustration, not real data
What it is
Speed is how fast the crosshair turns. Acceleration is how fast the speed changes. Jerk is how fast the acceleration changes, which is the part arms and wrists are worst at doing suddenly.
Overshoot finds the sharpest change in a kill's movement and compares it with the flick's own top speed, so a fast flick is not marked down just for being fast.
Why it matters
Human movement is smooth because muscles and joints cannot jump between speeds. Angles set directly by software do not have to ramp. This idea is well studied in movement science, and published detection research uses speed, acceleration and in some cases jerk.
What ordinary play looks like
Hard stops on a target, bumping the mouse pad edge and stopping a flick against a wall all produce sudden changes in ordinary play, so high values on single kills happen to honest players too.
How Overshoot shows it
Jerk appears beside the other measurements for each kill, never on its own. The preview fact sheet bolds the measurement that put a kill on the list, so a reader can see what drove it.
What this cannot tell you
- A measure built from changes in changes is noisy, so it is always read next to other measurements.
- It says the movement was abrupt, not why.
- Jerk alone never decides anything.