ABSTRACT
Physical replication of the vehicle and the real-world environment in which it operates is the principal design goal of physical fidelity in vehicle simulators. The advantages and disadvantages of physical fidelity as a design goal, especially its impact on the cost-effectiveness of a device, are discussed at length in this chapter. The design goal of perceptual fidelity is to produce operator behavior that is comparable to, if not indistinguishable from, operator behavior in the actual vehicle under similar task conditions. The advantages and disadvantages of this approach with particular emphasis on its potential for cost-effective design are discussed. Particular emphasis is placed on the role that a scientific understanding of human sensation and perception should play in the design of virtual environments such as vehicle simulators.
