
133
9
The Essential Realism of
Driving Simulators for
Research and Training
Andrew Parkes
Transport Research Laboratory, UK
Following the lead set by the aviation industry, simulators have been developed
for both research and training for road vehicle drivers. There are cheap ones,
expensive ones, large ones and small ones; many are operated by experienced and
knowledgeable staff, some are not. In short, a wide variety of systems exist that
can be described as a driving simulator and it can be difcult to distinguish those
that might be useful and promote realistic behaviour and effective learning experi-
ences. This chapter attempts