An automotive driving simulator with a computer generated display system, three axes of physical motion (roll, yaw, and lateral translation), sound, and vibration cues was used to investigate and compare human psychomotor response and vehicle response to different types of displays and motion cues. Eight subjects were instructed to "drive" the simulator under three levels of simulated preprogrammed motion picture display (MPDS) and the standard computer generated display (CGDS). Motion and no motion conditions were instituted at each level of display. A 6-minute data run was obtained for each possible combination of display and motion condition and for each subject. The first four minutes consisted of a lane keeping task under combinations of simulated straight road, curved road, and lateral and longitudinal wind gust conditions. In the fifth and sixth minute, subjects were instructed to perform lane change maneuvers. However, in the fifth minute, the simulator was preprogrammed for lane change maneuvers involving MPDS conditions, whereas in the sixth minute, it was not preprogrammed. Seven dependent variables were used to measure performance.

Results of the experiment show that one level of the simulated preprogrammed MPDS produced performance similar to that of a CGDS in all seven measures, whereas the other levels differ significantly. This suggests that using a properly instrumented preprogrammed MPDS will not compromise experimental results for certain research and educational experiments.

The sixth minute of the data run in the experiment was designed to compare the CGDS with the simulated nonpreprogrammed MPDS. The results revealed that the nonpreprogrammed MPDS cannot produce performance in lane change similar to the CGDS.