The fuel spray characteristics of direct injection engine have been widely concerned due to the demand of energy saving and emission reduction. A lot of experimental and numerical methods have been applied to the measurement and prediction of direction injection spray and experimental investigation is conducted to achieve the empirical equation which describes the fuel spray characteristics. The empirical equations summarized according to plenty of test data are helpful for the design and optimization of actual injection system. However, many empirical equations are feasible only in some constrained conditions and the proposed hypothesis usually does not accord with actual fuel atomization, hence the use of empirical equation has a certain limitation. In addition, the results from different investigations are different due to different experimental setups and parameter selections. Therefore, it is crucial to find a way to evaluate the universality of empirical equation for spray characteristics. Independent investigations were conducted to quantitatively compare the prediction performance of mainstream empirical equations from current documents. Furthermore, the limitations of each empirical model were evaluated based on specific experimental conditions. Such efforts would be helpful to guide the design of the next generation gasoline engine and the optimization of fuel spray system.