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How fast can you think? It\u2019s generally accepted by science that it takes around 50 milliseconds \u2013 one 20th of a second \u2013 for our brains to process sensory stimulation when it\u2019s presented to us randomly, and to then respond. In other words, to experience something we\u2019re not expecting and then to think about it.<\/p>\n
To put that into context, sound will travel 17 metres and a housefly will flap its wings around 150 times in 50 milliseconds. Yet the blink of a human eye takes approximately 100 milliseconds, which in theory means we can think twice as fast as we can blink.<\/p>\n
But when we\u2019re expecting something to happen, we can receive and respond to information much faster than this, because our brains are already primed to do so. Then, scientists believe, we can process information in around a quarter of a millisecond, during which time sound travels just 8.5cm and a fly will appear as if on freeze frame, mid-air, because it doesn\u2019t flap its wings so much as once.<\/p>\n
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So if the simulation of an event has any chance of appearing real to us, the speed with which it\u2019s delivered \u2013 not just to our brains but also to our hands, backside, ears, eyes, nose, you name it \u2013 is crucial and needs to be very fast indeed. If the sensory experience being relayed is in any way out of sync with our brains, or isn\u2019t delivered fast enough, it won\u2019t appear realistic. But if it is \u2013 if a simulator can deliver sensations at the same speeds and rhythms as our noggins process them \u2013 then it can, and will, appear very real indeed.<\/p>\n
Which is why the work being done by the team behind the world\u2019s fastest and most authentic driving simulator at Dynisma on the outskirts of Bristol, is in such high demand. Not just by racing teams such as Ferrari, who co-founder Ash Warne used to work for, but also by major car companies. Firms such as BMW (to name just one of Dynisma\u2019s growing client list) have realised that \u2018authentic simulation\u2019 can play an increasingly key part in road-car development, one that can potentially save them huge sums by cutting down on testing costs, and produce better cars at the same time. Simulation therefore is a major piece of tech to have up your sleeve \u2013 if it works.\u00a0<\/p>\n
At a stroke, the idea of having to build prototypes could theoretically be rendered obsolete by Dynisma\u2019s simulators. The testing and verification parts of a road car\u2019s development could in theory go all the way up to production eventually, which will enable brands to save gigantic sums of cash, so long as the simulation is \u2018authentic.\u2019 Because if it\u00a0isn\u2019t \u2013 if the simulation feels like no more than a pumped-up games console ultimately \u2013 then real-time development of road and racing cars will still be required. Question is, can a driving simulator ever be that real?\u00a0<\/p>\n
We\u2019re not quite there just yet, for although Warne and his 50-strong team at Dynisma know they\u2019re getting very close to offering a fully authentic driving experience, even they admit that, for the time being, we can still think a tiny bit faster than a simulator can perform. But only just.<\/p>\n
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Driving simulators: inside the world of bespoke out-of-car driving experiences<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Even so, Dynisma\u2019s sim is still currently the world\u2019s fastest-responding one right now. The only other that comes close to matching its speed \u2013 and therefore its reality \u2013 is the one used by the Ferrari F1 team. But this was built for Ferrari by Dynisma, so at the moment this really is the cutting edge.<\/p>\n
How real does the Dynisma sim feel, and does it honestly come close to replicating an actual driving experience? The answer is very, and yes it does \u2013 to a point where having spent the morning in it driving a 2019-spec Ferrari F1 car around Spa and, more intriguingly, a BMW on the roads of Warwickshire, I climb out of it, get into my real BMW and actually have to briefly stop at the side of the road to remind myself that I am back in the real world.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Unlike some sims, the Dynisma doesn\u2019t have a vast range of physical movement to it, the system instead delivering small but ultra-fast movements to its cockpit via a series of horizontal \u2018tracks\u2019 with vertical \u2018dampers\u2019 to produce the most unbelievably real sensations.\u00a0<\/p>\n
You need to don a crash helmet to get the full effect, and I find the simulations most authentic when wearing Dynisma\u2019s FPV goggles, rather than looking at the enormous wraparound screen. But one of the issues with sim \u2018driving\u2019 is that it can make some people feel nauseous, an effect that\u2019s amplified when using the goggles.<\/p>\n
Yet it\u2019s the reality of the sim\u2019s responses to things such as kerbs and even the smallest changes in camber and road surface quality that are the most impressive aspects to experience, but also the most perplexing. When driving a BMW 1 Series in the sim on the public roads near to the JLR and Aston Martin HQs in Warwickshire \u2013 roads I know pretty well \u2013 it only takes a minute or so to feel entirely immersed in the experience. My brain is telling me that everything around me is real. At the same time my backside, hands, ears and eyes are being tickled realistically enough for me to begin thinking I am actually there, driving the BMW.<\/p>\n
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When I ask for the car to be put into Sport mode, having been in Comfort, then drive across the exact same roads, the reality of the experience goes to another level again.<\/p>\n
All it takes is a new piece of software to be loaded and the 1 Series immediately feels slightly stiffer, slightly sharper in its general responses, its steering gets a touch heavier and the car feels lighter on its feet. It even makes a slightly sportier noise, I think. Just as it does in reality when you press Sport in a BMW 1 Series.<\/p>\n
At this point the penny drops. If the firm can accurately simulate changes in a car\u2019s behaviour that are as nuanced as this, I realise, the sky\u2019s the limit as to what you can test and verify in a sim as authentic as Dynisma\u2019s. You could try out endless damper, spring or diff settings to see if they work or not. That can be extended to gearbox or engine map settings or entire chassis set-ups.<\/p>\n
Complete vehicles can be designed on computers, then tested in sims like this, the less good ones being discarded and only the very best cars going on to get made. All the testing will have been carried out within the confines of just one, albeit fairly big room, such as the one at Dynisma.<\/p>\n
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When I climb out and tell them how stupefyingly real their simulator is, it\u2019s not surprising to clock the raw enthusiasm in Warne\u2019s and Dynisma\u2019s commercial director, Jason Barker\u2019s eyes. They know what they\u2019re sitting on here, and it\u2019s a gold mine. They then explain how anything from ride and NVH, to entire in-car HMi systems, to aerodynamics or a vehicle\u2019s all-round visibility can be experienced and perfected in their sims.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Yes, racing cars can also be designed and tested endlessly to see if they go faster or slower with different suspension sets ups, different diff maps, at different circuits, even in different kinds of weather. Hence the reason the Ferrari F1 has its Dynisma simulator in use 24\/7 at Maranello right now.<\/p>\n
But it\u2019s the road-car development that\u2019s potentially the biggest game changer of all. That\u2019s why Warne and his team already have two and four-seater sims being built, ones that will be able to replicate the experience of driving \u2013 and being driven in \u2013 anything from a sports car to an SUV or a saloon. Or a van. Or a lorry. You name it, Dynisma will be able to simulate the driving experience, and the more sims they build for vehicle manufacturers, the better they will get at it. And they\u2019re already pretty damn good.<\/p>\n