Development and Evaluation of a Motion-based VR Bicycle Simulator

Abstract

Bicycle simulators are becoming an increasingly used research tool. However, due to the complex cycling dynamics, these simulators have issues of simulator sickness and perceived realism. A potential method to address these issues could be providing a motion-based tilting function. Some bicycle simulators with tilt functionality have already been presented but still lack a systematic evaluation. In this work, we present a motion-based bicycle simulator without centrifugal force simulation and the results from a user study that compared different tilt modes. N=31 participants completed a study in virtual reality with a strong and a weak tilt mode, as well as a baseline condition without movement. We discovered that weak tilting could significantly improve the cycling realism without decreasing cycling performance and simulator sickness. Furthermore, our research suggests that there is a sweet spot for a tilting function, which facilitates a balance between presence/immersion and simulator sickness.