As you drive, you hear the engine rumble, the brakes squeal and the metal crunch if you crash. Some booths even move to create the sensation of motion in a turn. The sights, sounds and feel of the game booth combine to create, or simulate, the experience of driving a car in a race. Because they can recreate experiences, simulators hold great potential for training people for almost any situation. Education researchers have, in fact, determined that people, especially adults, learn better by experience than through reading or lectures.
Simulated experiences can be just as valuable a training tool as the real thing.
Over the years, government and industry, working independently with new technologies and hardware, have developed a wide range of simulations and related applications. This independence, however, often led to sporadic or redundant research efforts. To benefit from each other s latest advances, researchers from across the country needed better communication and, ideally, a common source of supporting academic studies. The State of Florida recognized these needs and in 1982 established the Institute for Simulation and Training at the University of Central Florida .