The Effect of Driving Environments on Simulator Sickness

In order to be an effective tool for driver evaluation and education, driving simulators need to be better designed to reduce simulator sickness. This study investigated driving in four environments (country, suburban, city, and curves) using a simulator. When driving on straight roads (city and suburban environments) subjects reported less simulator sickness then driving in the city environment (which included left and right turns) and on curves. A mini-SSQ was used to measure the accumulation of simulator sickness over trials. From trial 1 to trial 5, reported simulator sickness increased linearly. From trial 5 through 8, the rate of increase in simulator sickness decreased. We suggest that the rapid and distorted optic flow experienced while executing turns and driving on curves in driving simulators makes a substantial contribution to simulator sickness.