Rip currents are the main factor of drowning accidents at the beaches of Japan, accounting for 48% of accidents. In order to reduce these rip current accidents, it is necessary to clarify the actual level of the beachgoer’s knowledge and ability to recognize rip currents. However, it has been suggested that using images of rip currents is not necessarily effective in investigating the ability to recognize rip currents or in education to improve rip current recognition ability. Also, there are few studies that have investigated rip current recognition ability by a variety of rip currents. In this study, it was quantitatively clarified the difference in rip current recognition ability due to differences in rip current characteristics, using Virtual Reality (VR) and eye-tracking. As a result, the calm rips which generate under the calm wave condition and the fixed rips which generate fixedly near structures such as jetties were not well known and were difficult to identify. The flash rips which generate intermittently and suddenly were difficult to identify when the wave height is low. The permanent rips which generate constantly were the easiest to identify compared to other types of rip currents. Also, it was found that it was easy to identify rip current from a viewpoint where the entire rip current could be seen. These findings can be used to develop measures to prevent rip current accidents.