A Systematic Analysis for Multisensory Virtual Artifacts Design in Immersive E-Sport Applications and Sim-Racing

The mechanics of human-machine interaction have been subjected to numerous influences from the video game industry. With respect to the relationship between transportation and vehicle design and game tech, the area of e-sports and, in particular, that of sim-racing appears to be of particular interest. The perceptual dimension, in its potential as a vehicle for distributed multilevel feedback, becomes a tool that blurs the boundaries of the real-virtual experience due to the potential for spatial and emotional connection that have already been verified in the mixed reality context. The contribution aims to establish and develop a systemic analysis of technologies and approaches used to recreate multimodal perceptual-sensory mechanisms in the context of virtual simulations and in particular in sim-racing devices and e-sports. The analysis and classification of the state of the art is meant to represent a design map to support the designer of digital interfaces in the simulation domain. For the designer of human-computer interaction interfaces, the opportunity emerges to develop innovative interaction patterns and dynamics that exploit multimodality as an input and feedback channel. In this scenario, the role of the interaction designer emerges as a mediator between technological development and the design of the user experience of human-machine interfaces.