Consideration of Critical Cornering Control Characteristics via Driving Simulator that Imparts Full-range Drift Cornering Sensations

A driving simulator capable of duplicating the critical sensations incurred during a spin, or when a driver is engaged in drift cornering, was constructed by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd., and Hiromichi Nozaki of Kogakuin University. Specifically, the simulator allows independent movement along three degrees of freedom and is capable of exhibiting extreme yaw and lateral acceleration behaviors. Utilizing this simulator, the control characteristics of drift cornering have become better understood. For example, after a J-turn behavior experiment involving yaw angle velocity at the moment when the drivers attention transitions to resuming straight ahead driving, it is now understood that there are major changes in driver behavior in circumstances when simulator motions are turned off, when only lateral acceleration motion is applied, when only yaw motion is applied, and when combined motions (yaw + lateral acceleration) are applied. Therefore, it is now understood that drivers responded chiefly to yawing and lateral acceleration by providing feedback to the motion, thus clarifying the characteristics of counter steering. From observations of the driver's eye-tracking and perspiration levels, it is further understood that drivers are strongly influenced by motion feedback in the yaw motion when compared with the drift lateral acceleration motion at the time of cornering.