## 1 Introduction  
Touch screens, rotary controls, and joysticks are part of modern human-machine interfaces (HMIs) in industrial contexts. They are often integrated into complex HMIs and used to control cranes, drilling rigs, agricultural machines, or medical devices [1; 2; 3; 4; 5; 6]. The development of complex HMIs is ideally conducted according to a user-centered design process [7]. The focus of this process is on the user requirements. Based on these requirements, prototypes are developed, tested by the users, optimized, and retested [8]. Several prototypes must be developed for this iterative process. However, the production of prototypes is expensive and time-consuming [9]. Companies are increasingly using virtual prototypes to reduce the number of prototypes that need to be manufactured [10; 11]. Virtual reality (VR) technology offers the possibility of visualizing and experiencing virtual prototypes in high detail. Users can test and evaluate prototypes by simulating a later usage environment [12]. The first studies showed that the evaluation of prototypes in VR is comparable to the evaluation of real prototypes [13; 14; 15; 16; 17; 18; 19]. In the industrial context, however, completely virtual prototypes are hardly used for user tests because the lack of haptic feedback limits the evaluation, in particular [19; 20]. Therefore, virtual prototypes are often evaluated in mixed-reality environments [21; 22; 23; 24]. In this case, the virtual environment is mixed with real control elements. However, completely virtual prototypes are useful, particularly in the early stages of development. Different HMI concepts can be evaluated without the need to manufacture real control elements. In addition, test participants can evaluate new prototypes independent of their location. Many studies and textbooks exist on the design of real control elements to achieve high control accuracy and user satisfaction [25; 26; 27; 28; 29; 30; 31; 32; 33; 34; 35; 36; 37; 38; 39]. Table 1 shows, for example, the recommended value ranges for the optimal haptic value impression of rotary controls according to [PERSON] [40], as well as recommendations for safe operation according to [PERSON] and [PERSON] [30]. The table shows that an important parameter in the design of rotary controls is the torque that the user must apply to switch from one position to another. This torque cannot be simulated using VR. Consequently, the user lacks an important feedback component. This may lead to reductions in positioning accuracy and speed, which can decrease performance and user acceptance. Force feedback is also an important feedback source for joysticks. The user feels resistance when moving the joystick and can therefore better control the deflection [31; 41; 42; 43]. To adapt HMIs in VR to different modalities, customized interaction types are often used, such as laser pointers, additional virtual menus, or input devices such as tablets [44; 45; 46; 47; 48; 49; 50]. Many studies have focused on the optimal human-computer interaction for specific applications in VR, for example, games [51], desktop navigation [52], or learning tasks [53]. However, to evaluate new prototypes in VR, the control elements and the way of interaction should match the later reality as closely as possible. Hardware solutions, such as data gloves and haptic devices, that are intended to enable natural interaction in VR are still very expensive and require extensive setup time [54]. To be able to interact with VR content as naturally as possible, studies have already been conducted on realistic grasping in VR [55; 56]. However, there is a lack of studies investigating how control elements (joysticks, rotary controls, etc.) can be adapted to VR so that they can be operated well by users. In addition, there is a lack of studies investigating the influence of different control element parameters such as size, shape or type of feedback on subjective parameters such as user experience or workload.