I think the target markets are more for vehicle development and human
factors research.
The University of Iowa has a continuing research project;
Mercedes-Benz built one about 15 years ago; Ford has built one. I'm
sure other auto manufacturers have done similar things.
As for commercial sources, Evans and Sutherland would probably be the
place to start; they supplied the visual systems for the Ford and
Mercedes-Benz simulators, and I think they at least want to be a
full-system supplier.
Look at www.es.com to start.
But computer simulators just aren't practical for driver
training. When you want to train a pilot to fly a $150M aircraft, $1M
for a simulator looks cheap. When the training is to drive a $20,000
car, it looks expensive. In fact, you could build a pretty good test
track for the price of a good simulator.
Except that there aren't any good ones that I know of. Motion
simulation for a car turns out to be harder than that for a plane,
partly because of the high-frequency inputs from the road surface. The
tire is also very complex to simulate; I understand that the Mercedes
simulator felt like driving on ice all the time.
As for simulating low-traction conditions, there are ingenious rigs
that lift most of the car's weight from its own wheels, simulating a
loss of grip. They are quite useful for driver training.
--
-Stephen H. Westin
Any information or opinions in this message are mine: they do not
represent the position of Cornell University or any of its sponsors.
Might be not exactly what you are looking for, but... The last time I went
to a video arcade they had a game that was out of this world. It cost $2 a
pop, but what a rush: wrap-around screen, three pedals, support for 6gears,
and a parking brake. It was unreal, everything was so realistic. I pumped
$10 into that thing so fast. You had your choice of Hondas, Acuras, Toyotas
and Mitsubishis. I drove an MR2 and a 3000GT. The force-feedback was what
made me go ga-ga. I got off of it in a sweat from fighting an NSX up a windy
road. I believe they had a night/stormy scenario.
--
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