Evaluation of drive-off procedures in dynamic driving simulators: Multisensory cues, interaction and sense of presence

Abstract

The importance of a realistic driving feeling for the validity of driving simulator studies has been investigated by many researchers. These investigations focus on rather abstract test objectives like driving experience or safety aspects and indicate that a high sense of presence is important to achieve realistic behaviour of the driver. However, it is not clear if this must similarly be true for driving dynamic studies with precise test objectives like acceleration or jerk. In this paper, we investigate the influence of multisensory cues and interaction with the virtual vehicle on the experienced sense of presence and the evaluation of drive-off procedures. In a three-part experimental study with different variations of the virtual reality and the driver’s interaction with the virtual vehicle, the sense of presence is measured and compared in a between-groups design. Furthermore, the evaluations of nine drive-off acceleration profiles are compared. The results show that diverse multisensory cues do not significantly impact the experienced sense of presence regarding the general presence, spatial presence or realism. As expected, interacting with the virtual vehicle leads to higher involvement ratings. The results of the acceleration profiles evaluations indicate that multisensory cueing has a negligible effect on the evaluation of the drive-off behaviour under the tested conditions. The interaction of the driver with the virtual vehicle offers the test subject a better experience in virtual reality.