Automotive Ergonomics

143The Essential Realism of Driving Simulators for Research and Training

examples of systematic attempts to measure the objective validity of simulators.

Instead, suppliers and practitioners are content with the concept of relative valid-

ity. For training purposes it is assumed that if appropriate behaviours are shown

in a simulator, they will transfer, at least in part, to a real life situation. Similarly,

researchers are satised that if two things are compared in a simulator (e.g., drugs,

sleep regimes, information systems, vehicle settings), then if one promotes a better

response than the other, then at least the direction of the effect would be expected

to be shown in a real world equivalent trial too. For most research purpose