InGame partner Urban Voyage worked with Tranzqual (the transport Industry Training Organisation) to develop Heavy Vehicle Dynamics 3D: a “trucking simulator” for the Xbox Generation.
When it comes to understanding complex and subtle concepts, such as how vehicle loading affects handling and cornering, 3D gaming technology makes complex ideas simple to understand and experience. The sim shows what happens if the truck speeds by 10kph, changes the load configuration or takes a corner too fast. From the driver’s seat students can look down the side mirror to see the effects of ‘roll amplification’ or smoke coming off tires under heavy breaking.
The simulator gives students the ‘freedom to fail’ and safely explore consequences – a key e-learning benefit. Customer feedback has been outstanding, with many students asking “can you make it more like a game?”
The computing required to simulate realistic physical forces is complex, but is a technology that has been pioneered by the gaming industry and incorporated into HDV3 by Urban Voyage. Even a few years ago incorporating lifelike physics would have required expensive computers, but this technology is now possible on standard computers (PCs, Macs, iPads and iPhones).