I recently had a chance to mix two of my passions together: driving simulators and game testing. I have been playing driving simulators for a while now, always wondering how closely they can simulate not just real-life scenarios, but everything down to the limits of physics. While researching this, I came across few concepts that are common in simulator studios, but have been absent in conventional game studios.
It is important to understand that a simulator should primarily be seen as a training tool rather than just an entertaining experience. Keeping that in mind, I read about training scars.
Training Scar
Let me explain. A training scar is an incorrect or bad habit that a person develops during training that can make an action inadequate, inefficient, or in some cases, counterproductive. This is easy to develop while working with simulators, as there are several aspects where the simulator does not completely replicate real life.
One training scar that comes to mind from my years of playing driving simulators is caused by the position of the driver's seat. Often, the driver camera is right in the center of the car, like the hood camera in Gran Turismo. This creates the illusion that the car is exactly the width of the TV screen. Because the screen is flat and centered, players lose their natural sense of peripheral vision and spatial awareness. You start to believe the driving line runs exactly under the driver and that all vehicles are proportionately the same size.
When I switched to driving real cars after years in simulators (yes, I am one of those people who learned to drive from simulators!), the training scars I had were evident. It took me a few weeks of real-world driving to adjust my spatial awareness and realize my actual car was much wider than my screen. Though I was able to overcome them easily, the scars were definitely there. Today, there are studios that have incorporated features in their simulated training experiences to minimize these scars by making the world around the user not just look perfect, but feel correct in terms of point of view, texture, dimensions, and even the weight of the physical tools used. I have deep appreciation for such teams who take the realism to whole another level.
Safety and Regulatory Compliance
While eliminating training scars protects the player's driving habits, there is another aspect of simulator development that protects their physical safety: regulatory compliance.
I have been part of a PlayStation(R) Compliance Test Team for about eight years in my testing career, so I am highly familiar with technical compliance. However, when dealing with video games that have real-world physical effects during play, it is critical to consider the safety of the user and the people around them.
There are several safety protocols and technical dos and don'ts already in place for devices like PSVR and PSVR2. But this becomes even more relevant when, as a tester, you are dealing with a motion rig connected to a video game. In this scenario, bugs aren't just a character glitching out of the map, a game crash, or losing save data. A bug on a motion rig could mean a violent physical jolt to the tester, directly jeopardizing their physical safety.
Fortunately, there are strict safety compliance measures in place, such as emergency stop buttons, standard procedures, and software/hardware-based guardrails that keep the output of the motion rig within safe limits. Of course, the hardware runs through signals generated via code, meaning this code needs to be rigorously reviewed before anyone even turns on the motion rig.
This just goes to show how simulators are vastly different from conventional games and experiences. After studying these details and seeing the behind-the-scenes work, I have even more appreciation for simulator games and the studios that build them.
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