がする

1. 1Reports a smell, sound, taste, or voice that is perceived.Ex. 1
2. 2Expresses a bodily sensation that is felt.Ex. 2

Neutral in register and common in everyday speech and writing. The perceived phenomenon takes が, while the perceiver is often left unstated; unlike 匂いを嗅ぐ or 音を聞く, がする reports a sensation rather than an intentional act of sensing.

• ような気がするN3「ような気がする」is a fixed usage of 「気がする」that attaches to a sentence or 「noun＋の」and expresses an uncertain judgment or vague memory; it cannot be swapped with 「がする」when 「がする」describes a sound, smell, taste, or bodily sensation.
• ように見えるN4「ように見える」makes conjectures based on visual appearance or uses metaphor, often implying things may not actually be so, and attaches to plain forms or 「な」/「の」. 「がする」attaches to nouns like 「音」「匂い」「気」to express hearing, smell, taste, and physical/mental sensations, is not used for vision, and the two are not interchangeable.
• ようだN4「がする」describes naturally perceived sounds, smells, and physical/mental sensations, attaching to nouns such as 「音・匂い・気」; 「ようだ」expresses conjecture or metaphor and can attach to verbs, adjectives, and nouns. 「気がする」can also express conjecture, but leans on intuition.
• みたいだN4「みたいだ」expresses metaphor or conjecture based on observation or feelings, can attach to nouns, verbs, and adjectives, and is more colloquial; 「がする」attaches to nouns like 「音」「匂い」「気」and directly states sensory, physical, or psychological feelings, so the two are not interchangeable.
• とみえる / とみえてN3「とみえる」is an objective inference based on signs, attaches to plain forms (nouns and な-adjectives take 「だ」), and leans toward written style; 「がする」directly states sensory and physical/mental sensations, attaching to nouns like 「音」「気」. 「気がする」is also more subjective, so they are not interchangeable.

がする reports a sensory or bodily perception. ような気がする expresses a vague impression, while ように見える, ようだ, みたいだ, and とみえる / とみえて convey an appearance-based impression or inference rather than directly reporting a sensation.