A simulator of gravitational force found at the industrial space complex run by Hugo Drax (Michael Lonsdale) outside Los Angeles in Moonraker. Touring the facilities with Dr. Holly Goodhead (Lois Chiles), Bond (Roger Moore) accepts her offer to test his skills on the simulator. According to Goodhead, the maximum speed of the trainer is 20 Gs, a fatal force, while 3 Gs is equivalent to takeoff pressure and 7 Gs is the point at which most people pass out.

Unbeknownst to Holly, when she’s called away from the training area to receive a bogus phone call, Chang (Toshiro Suga) sabotages the trainer, intending to kill Bond with a lethal force. As the trainer builds speed like an amusement park attraction, Bond begins to push a “chicken switch” that is supposed to automatically shut down the system. It doesn’t work.

As the force continues to build, rippling the skin on 007’s face, Bond tries to use his wrist-activated dart gun. He finally shoots out the controls of the trainer after enduring a force of 13 Gs. A returning Holly rushes to his side, but Bond wants none of her comforting. He staggers away—totally disoriented but alive.

The sequence, which owes a great deal to the motorized traction table incident in Thunderball, is one of the few times that the film takes on a chilling realism. (Another is Corinne Dufour’s death in the forest.) Otherwise, most of the action sequences in Moonraker are either unbelievable (the gondola chase, the space station assault), overstaged (the glass museum fight with Chang), or just plain dull (the motorboat chase in South America).