Car manufacturers expect driving simulators to be reliable research and development tools. Questions arise, however, as to whether drivers’ behavior on simulators exactly matches that observed when they are driving real cars. Drivers’ performances and their subjective feelings about their driving were compared between two groups during a 40-min driving test on the same circuit in a real car (n = 20) and a high-fidelity dynamic simulator (n = 27). Their speed and its variability, the braking force and the engine revolutions per minute (rpm) were recorded five times on a straight line and three times on a curve. The differences observed in these measurements between circuit driving (CD) and simulator driving (SD) from the 6th to 40th minute showed no significant changes during the drive. The drivers also completed the NASA Raw Task Load Index (NASA RTLX) questionnaire and the Simulator Sickness Questionnaire (SSQ) and estimated the ease and standard of their own driving performances. These subjective feelings differed significantly between the two groups throughout the experiment. The SD group’s scores on the NASA RTLX and SSQ questionnaires increased with time and the CD group’s perceived driving quality and ease increased with time, reaching non-significantly different levels from their usual car driving standards by the end of the drive. These findings show the existence of a fairly good match between real-life and simulated driving, which stabilized six minutes after the start of the test, regardless of whether the road was straight or curved. These objective findings and subjective assessments suggest possible ways of improving the match between drivers’ performances on simulators and their real-life driving behavior.

汽车制造商希望驾驶模拟器成为可靠的研发工具。然而，关于驾驶员在模拟器上的行为是否与他们驾驶实车时观察到的行为完全匹配的问题出现了。在真实汽车（n = 20）和高保真动态模拟器（n = 27）的同一条电路上进行了40分钟的驾驶测试，对两组驾驶员的表现和主观感觉进行了比较。它们的速度及其可变性，制动力和发动机的每分钟转数（rpm）在直线上记录了5次，在曲线上记录了3次。从第6分钟到第40分钟，在电路驱动（CD）和模拟器驱动（SD）之间的这些测量结果中观察到的差异表明，在驱动过程中没有显着变化。驾驶员还填写了NASA原始任务负荷指数（NASA RTLX）问卷和模拟器疾病问卷（SSQ），并估算了其驾驶性能的难易程度和标准。在整个实验过程中，两组之间的这些主观感觉存在显着差异。SD组在NASA RTLX和SSQ问卷上的得分随时间增加，CD组的感知驾驶质量和舒适度随时间增加，到驾驶结束时与通常的汽车驾驶标准无明显差异。这些发现表明，在现实生活和模拟驾驶之间存在相当好的匹配，无论行驶的道路是平直还是弯弯，在测试开始后六分钟内这种稳定就稳定了。