Cool stuff is always coming out of the alternative controller community. From rhythm games where you wiggle around on a real skateboard to games where you smack a giant stuffed animal cat butt, the world of weird controllers is awesome and underrated. Luckily, a brand new type of alt control is getting some well-deserved love.
Streamer Perri Karyal is known for making alt controls that allow her to play games using her brain—but what if it were the other way around? What if a game could control a player?
On Thursday, Karyal posted a video showing off exactly that. Using a process called galvanic vestibular stimulation (GVS), which basically sends signals to the part of your ear canal that’s responsible for your sense of balance, Karyal was able to hook up her own body to a controller.
I can control your balance
I made a device that sends DC current through my head to stimulate my vestibular nerve (called galvanic vestibular stimulation or GVS) and, in doing so, can make me feel completely destabilised. By changing the direction of the current, it can make me… pic.twitter.com/XNH0EtRow6
— Perri (@perrikaryal) February 12, 2026
“By changing the direction of the current, it can make me fall in that direction,” she explains. The video shows Karyal running in a straight line — until a person shifts a joystick to the left, which causes her to veer to the left, too.
Karyal proceeded to use the tech to simulate G forces while playing Ubisoft’s 2020 racing game Trackmania. In the video, she sways from side to side in tandem with her digital car, to dizzying effect. She also reports seeing “flashing lights,” which doesn’t sound too good. The official Trackmania Esports account took notice of Karyal’s experiment, calling it “awesome.”
The technology that makes this possible is actually quite old. In an NBC article from 2005, journalist Yuri Kageyama tries out GVS: “I found the experience unnerving and exhausting: I sought to step straight ahead but kept careening from side to side. Those alternating currents literally threw me off.”
Perri Karyal stresses not to replicate this experiment at home, as GVS isn’t very well-researched and can cause adverse effects. It’s very cool to watch someone else do it, though!
