Driving simulators are increasingly being incorporated by driving schools into a training process for a variety of vehicles. The motion platform is a major component integrated into simulators to enhance the sense of presence and fidelity of the driving simulator. However, less effort has been devoted to assessing the motion cues feedback on trainee performance in simulators. To address this gap, we thoroughly study the impact of motion cues on braking at a target point as an elementary behavior that reflects the overall driver’s performance. In this paper, we use an eye-tracking device to evaluate driver behavior in addition to evaluating data from a driving simulator and considering participants’ feedback. Furthermore, we compare the effect of different motion levels (“No motion”, “Mild motion”, and “Full motion”) in two road scenarios: with and without the pre-braking warning signs with the speed feedback given by the speedometer. The results showed that a full level of motion cues had a positive effect on braking smoothness and gaze fixation on the track. In particular, the presence of full motion cues helped the participants to gradually decelerate from 5 to 0 ms−1 in the last 240 m before the stop line in both scenarios, without and with warning signs, compared to the hardest braking from 25 to 0 ms−1 produced under the no motion cues conditions. Moreover, the results showed that a combination of the mild motion conditions and warning signs led to an underestimation of the actual speed and a greater fixation of the gaze on the speedometer. Questionnaire data revealed that 95% of the participants did not suffer from motion sickness symptoms, yet participants’ preferences did not indicate that they were aware of the impact of simulator conditions on their driving behavior.

The present paper focuses on vehicle simulator fidelity, particularly the effect of motion cues intensity on driver performance. The 6-DOF motion platform was used in the experiment; however, we mainly focused on one characteristic of driving behavior. The braking performance of 24 participants in a car simulator was recorded and analyzed. The experiment scenario was composed of acceleration to 120 km/h followed by smooth deceleration to a stop line with prior warning signs at distances of 240, 160, and 80 m to the finish line. To assess the effect of the motion cues, each driver performed the run three times with different motion platform settings–no motion, moderate motion, and maximal possible response and range. The results from the driving simulator were compared with data acquired in an equivalent driving scenario performed in real conditions on a polygon track and taken as reference data. The driving simulator and real car accelerations were recorded using the Xsens MTi-G sensor. The outcomes confirmed the hypothesis that driving with a higher level of motion cues in the driving simulator brought more natural braking behavior of the experimental drivers, better correlated with the real car driving test data, although exceptions were found.