One of the big impediments some people have when trying to play fast octaves is the positioning of the thumb. A good rule of thumb (groan at the bad pun please) is to make sure the thumb is taking the shortest route from key to key. That means playing with your thumb near the black keys. Lots of people make the mistake of playing with the thumb on the edge of the white keys when playing octaves. You might think that it is safer to put the thumb there, but you are actually making your octaves clumsier.
Practice fast octaves only with the thumb to make sure it is near the black keys most of the time. The jump from black to white key with the thumb is one of the big factors that prevents people from playing fast and accurate octaves.
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