Abstract: The application of virtual hand for human-computer interaction in VR navigation simulator is studied. HTC Vive virtual reality headset and Leap Motion tactile controller are selected as the hardware devices and software Unity is used to create ship handling scenes. The hierarchical bounding box tree technology and the three-dimensional model stacking algorithm are used to perform efficient collision detection in the virtual bridge controls. A virtual hand manipulation method is developed based on the actual manipulation characteristics of ships. An inverse kinematics algorithm is introduced to optimize the virtual hand posture during dynamic manipulation. Simulations show that the running frame rate of the improved collision detection algorithm is increased by 23.1% and the hand posture stability is improved by 50.8% after the optimization of the inverse kinematics algorithm. The operational realism of the navigation simulator is significantly improved by the design.