Virtual Reality (VR) is a technology that makes use of computer graphics,
algorithms and special hardware to simulate the real world in real time. There
are four main elements required to make a VR system a success, namely
virtual world, immersion, sensory feedback and interactivity. The virtual
world created must be as real as possible. Users should have a sense of
immersion in the virtual world. Position tracking is usually incorporated into
a VR system for visual, sound and force feedback on the users and the virtual
objects in the VR world must be interact-able with the users. VR has proven
to be effective in training and widely used in many areas, for example medical
surgery, dental treatment, psychology treatment for phobia, engineering
design, maintenance and repair, sports and many more. By implementing VR
technology in training, users are able to reduce the training cost and time. VR
training is also safer for users, as harsh environments can be simulated despite
the environment and/or human factors. On the other hand, the physical
facilities and infrastructures of the track cycling are very costly. In track
cycling, the game field, known as a velodrome, requires a large space of area.
It requires a huge budget and professional manpower to maintain these
facilities. Therefore, the proposed spatial immersive track cycling simulator
is invented to overcome these issues. The aim of this study is to simulate the
velodrome track cycling in VR environment and synchronize with a 6 degreeof-freedom
motion platform. The simulator is aimed to be low cost and
minimal space requirement compared to actual velodrome. A trainee who
undergoes VR track cycling simulator training wears a head-mounted-display (HMD) to visualize the VR environment. An actual bike will be mounted on
the 6-DOF motion platform, which the platform will synchronize with the VR
environment to simulate the track condition for the training purposes. An
encoder is placed at the bicycle wheel to feedback the moving speed and
synchronize the visualize feedback to the HMD.