Working with the third person template the character by default seems to float in the air and doesn’t look like real gravity at all. If I change the gravity on the character to something like 2.8 it seems more realistic but the default value is 1 which I would assume is “real” gravity level.
Am I just seeing this wrong or is gravity by default less than earths gravity?
What you are taking about is not gravity but gravity scale for the character. I.e 1 means apply full gravity and 2.8 means apply 2.8 times of world gravity.
The default gravity for the game is in the project settings -physics-defaults
you can override gravity per level in the game using world settings
also default gravity is mathematically realistic if you know 1 unit of game dimension = 1cm .
see the following thread
McTittles- it is WAY too floaty.
The number in project settings may be mathematically realistic but for some reason it’s not REMOTELY realistic in the game world. Interestingly I also settled on 2.8 for the character for a better feel. I think there is something else going on that’s influencing gravity setting because I noticed on the shootergame a gravity value of 1 feels correct and more like the 2.8 value when using the templates. If you copy the shootergames jump velocity of 720 with gravity= 1 in either the fps template for the 3rd person template you will jump extremely high and float down.
Something is up!
I have also been having issues with the default gravity settings. Setting the gravity to 2.8 times default is a huge improvement, especially with the destructible meshes. Is this a bug with running at 60fps I wonder?
I’m not sure, but I think that the gravity is realistic, but the character mass isn’t. Maybe… I’m not sure of this but that would cause this problem.
I agree that 2.8 * -980 = -2744 is way more realistic. The default setting lets character fly in the air for too long. I don’t think per-character gravity is scaling is what I want. I fixed my problem by setting project settings -> editor -> physics -> default gravity.
The problem with the floatiness is not gravity, but the jump velocity of the character.
The character in the Third Person Template has a jump velocity of 600, or 6 m/s. If you look at data for standing vertical jumps, you will see that a 1 meter jump is very good (with the legs straight down during the jump).
This actually corresponds to a velocity of about 4.4 m/s, and if you change the jump velocity of the character to 440, you will see a much more reasonable jump.
Now, if you do want to jump much higher, but still need the character to fall down quickly, then gravity scale is indeed the way to go.
If you want this to only apply to your pawn then go into your movement component and change the gravity scale for 1.8 (This felt realistic to me jumping the same height in irl), otherwise just change it in the Engine Physics settings
So the real issue is that he’s jumping like a superhuman, that’s why takes so long to fall.
I too also changed my gravity to 2.8-ish for a more responsive fall. Odd that everyone came to the same value 
In case someone still wonders why Shooter Game example project has jumping that feels more realistic, it’s because the level has Override World Gravity setting enabled and set to -2000 which is toughly twice the normal default gravity.
I was finding exactly the same behavior in my own program… so seeing this thread, I sought to confirm it. So first, the math for constant acceleration:
x = x0 + v0t + 1/2a*t^2
If we assume a point mass starting at 100m (x0 = 100), and initial velocity of 0m/s (v0 = 0), a constant acceleration of 9.81m/s^2 (a = 9.81), and a final resting position at ground (x = 0) then we can solve for t.
0 = 100 + 0.5*(-9.81)*t^2
t = sqrt(200/9.81) = 4.515
So, creating a new, blank project, I added a sphere to the project. The default sphere with no scaling has a radius of 50cm. Therefore, I position the sphere at 10050cm (100.5m) above the plane. Upon hitting a key, the sphere falls and generates a hit event 4.56s after starting. Pretty close to the theoretical. I then repeated the experiment in my game where my flying object feels very “floaty”… and I get exactly the same result. So I guess there is nothing wrong with the physics engine. 
Yep, the physics are fine guys, the character just jumps like a rocket. Have you ever seen someone jump his own height without assist?
Question, how would i write go about writing something that would control gravity base upon the map chosen for the level, I’m guessing it would go somewhere up top in the game mode, yeah?
Found this while searching for realistic gravity multiplier. I hope necroing 5yo threads is not against the rules.
Don’t know how realistic is math with default settings, but would argue it’s not just player’s jump velocity. When character is running off the ledge it takes quite a while to land. Same floaty feeling many people describing here. But in this scenario player’s jump played no role in it.
Another vampire necroboost here - but I agree, and I think it’s also evident when you look at the behaviour of simulated meshes. I saw others talking about setting global gravity to -2000 ballpark, and to my eye it creates a much more realistic/less floaty result.