Driving Simulators in Vehicle Development – How Realistic Are Virtual Test Drives?

Simulator Environments: Key to Modern Vehicle Development

At the MdynamiX Innovation Portal, we’re taking you behind the scenes of the Simulator Development Center at the Institute for Driving Assistance and Connected Mobility (IFM) in Benningen. Together with Stefanie Trunzer, Senior Project Engineer, we explore why driving simulators are no longer just an auxiliary tool but a core part of modern vehicle development. They provide engineers with opportunities to save time and costs while gaining early insights into complex issues – all while significantly improving development quality.

This time, we’re focusing on the simulator’s vehicle dynamics and comfort behavior, comparing virtual test drives with real-world tests and analyzing the results live using our software.

 

Dynamic Driving Simulator from Ansible Motion – High-Tech for Engineers

IFM uses a dynamic driving simulator from Ansible Motion, fully powered by electricity. This makes it extremely agile, capable of executing movements up to 50 Hz – the exact frequency range engineers need for their work. A track over five meters long allows a detailed representation of a vehicle’s lateral dynamics, ensuring high-quality curves and cornering stability.

The simulator cockpit is a modified VW Golf, specially adapted for this environment. Lightweight components such as plastic doors and windows keep the overall weight under the allowed 500 kg, while still giving the driver a realistic vehicle feel. A standout feature is the MXsteerAct actuator, which integrates a real vehicle steering system into the simulator, providing a steering and handling experience remarkably close to that of a real car.

Why Real Steering is Essential in a Driving Simulator

Steering is a critical factor in vehicle dynamics development. While virtual steering models can be simulated, they quickly reach their limits in practice. Control issues such as overshoot, unstable steering wheels, and missing friction effects often make models feel lifeless (“like a dead fish”), depriving engineers of essential feedback.

A real steering system, on the other hand, allows friction effects, precision, and the driver’s subjective feedback to be represented accurately. This provides engineers with a precise, realistic basis for evaluation.

Slalom Drive in the Simulator – Experiencing Vehicle Dynamics

To demonstrate practical capabilities, a slalom drive at 50 km/h was performed in the simulator. Thanks to the integration of CarMaker, the MXsteerAct steering system, and the simulator’s motion platform, the driver experienced lateral forces and vehicle reactions almost as if they were in a real car.

The result was a realistic driving experience, illustrating how closely modern simulators replicate reality. But how can this real driving feel be translated into objective numbers for comparison?

Objective Driving Data Analysis with MXeval

After the test drive, the driving data is analyzed using the MXeval evaluation and targeting software. It automatically processes measurements, displays all relevant parameters, and enables objective analysis of driving characteristics. MXeval works with both the simulator and real vehicles, allowing direct comparison between virtual and real drives.

In this case, the evaluation revealed smooth driving curves and consistent steering moments – a clear indication that the virtual drive was not only subjectively convincing but also objectively reliable.

Comparison: Simulator vs. Real Test Track

To validate the results, the same slalom course was then driven on the Fakt Motion test track, with data again analyzed in MXeval. The exciting outcome: the simulator and real-world results matched almost perfectly.

For vehicle development, this means that models and suspensions can be calibrated and validated virtually at an early stage, before costly real-world tests are necessary. This speeds up development, reduces costs, and allows testing of a much larger number of scenarios and variants

Evaluating Ride Comfort: From Potholes to Asphalt Quality

In addition to dynamics, ride comfort is an essential part of vehicle development. On a real test track, engineers assessed how the vehicle responded to low-frequency shocks (like potholes or manhole covers) and how high-frequency components of the road surface were perceived through the steering and seat.

Using the MXevalApp for subjective evaluations, these impressions were systematically documented, providing engineers with actionable insights for suspension and steering tuning.

Digital Twin: Comfort Evaluation in the Simulator

The same test track was recreated as a digital twin in the simulator using precise lidar data with rFpro visualization software.. A fTyre tire model ensures even the smallest irregularities are realistically felt.

Evaluation showed that low-frequency shocks were slightly less pronounced in the simulator, while high-frequency components matched reality almost perfectly. The difference was only half a point – a remarkable testament to the realism of modern driving simulators.

Why Driving Simulators Are the Future of Vehicle Development

The dynamic driving simulator clearly demonstrates that it is much more than a virtual testing tool. It combines subjective driving experience with objective data analysis, enables the involvement of experts and test drivers early in the development process, and bridges the gap between virtual simulation and real test drives.

It plays a crucial role in streamlining development up to SOP (Start of Production), addressing complex issues, shortening development times, reducing costs, and improving vehicle quality. Driving simulators have become an indispensable part of modern vehicle development.

 

Who Should Take Note?

This content is particularly relevant for vehicle dynamics engineers, steering engineers, development engineers, and ADAS function developers.

 

Contact Us!

To learn more about our driving simulator, MXsteerAct, MXeval software, or MXevalApp, contact us directly. Our experts provide tailored advice, show how these tools can fit into your development processes, and demonstrate how they can save time while improving vehicle quality. We support and guide you in integrating the simulator and simulation as a core component of your development workflow.