Insight into Steering Adaptation Patterns in a Driving Simulator

The collection of data from a driving simulator before participants are fully adapted to the system can lead to erroneous and incomplete conclusions. In most studies that involve a driving simulator, researchers try to manipulate a cause and then measure the effect, that is, a driver's reaction. However, participants need time to adapt and transfer their already existing driving skills to the simulator. The process of adaptation, or skill transfer, imposes a mental load on participants that can distract them from performing the primary task, that is, driving. Therefore, before adaptation, a participant's reaction may not be representative of real-life behavior, which potentially reduces the validity of the research. In the present study, the performance of subjects doing a repetitive cornering task is traced and the different patterns of adaptation and skill transfer to the driving simulator are studied. The results show interesting characteristics of the adaptation process, including power curve fit to the learning phase and the observation of a plateau period, in which performance stops improving before it restarts. The participants were also asked to report at what point they felt adapted to the simulator while taking the test. The self-reported times were compared with the results of quantitative analysis of their performance. The results showed that self-reported values were significantly lower than the actual adaptation time, with an insignificant correlation between self-reported values and actual values occurring.