LED displays offer a number of advantages over projection technology traditionally used for simulation. LED displays have extremely high contrast and a wide colour gamut, which means more vivid and true-to-life visuals that create a fully immersive experience. There are no seams and no edge blending artefacts, which are issues with other display technologies.
At an automotive simulation demo held at Brompton Technology’s HQ, David Waters, Head of Engineering at Base Performance Simulators, said one of the major differences is “how blacks are handled” and expanded on the benefits of LED in relation to racing simulations. He explained, “In a typical projector setup, if you drive into a dark area, such as exiting the pits at Abu Dhabi, the projector struggles to project true black. Instead, it often projects some kind of greyish light, which affects the clarity of dark areas. This creates issues like blending zones, where different projectors overlap and cause visible seams.” He added, “With the LED screen, you get true blacks, which adds to the realism, especially in night racing scenarios like Singapore, where the lights contrast with the dark areas in a way that traditional displays just can’t replicate.”
LEDs also have a constant pixel pitch across the whole display, unlike projectors where pixels at the edge of the raster are larger than those in the middle, creating challenges for achieving uniform image quality across the screen. Additionally, with projection there is usually a need for warping, which requires extra resolution from the graphics engine that is not required with the constant pixel pitch of LED.
Another significant advantage LED displays offer is very high brightness compared to projection, which can better reproduce real-world environments such as daytime exteriors. This is important for delivering realism, and if a driver or pilot typically wears a tinted visor or sunglasses, for example, they can get the same experience in an LED simulation, whereas the brightness levels of a projection system would not be up to the task.
Andy Symonds, Director at Cave Oy, who was also present at the simulation demo held at Brompton, remarked on the ambient light and realism LEDs offer: “With LED technology, you can have ambient light in the room – such as sunlight or sunrise – which affects the cabin of the car, even if it’s out of the driver’s direct line of sight. This can create reflections on the dashboard, illuminating the car’s controls and giving a much more immersive and realistic experience than a projection system ever could.”
LED displays also offer a long product life and, in comparison to projectors which require regular maintenance and lamp replacements, are a low-maintenance solution.
Advances in LED processing are also changing the game, as we’re seeing with features such as Dark Time Insertion, which Symonds says offers important improvements. He explains, “This feature gives the human eye time to adjust between frames, reducing issues like double or triple imaging that you often see with projectors.” He adds, “In traditional simulators, especially those with large wraparound screens, the peripheral vision struggles to process fast-moving content. This causes ghosting or smearing of images, especially with vertical lines like lamp posts or barriers. Dark Time Insertion gives the eye time to refresh itself between frames, ensuring that the transition between images is smooth and clear.”
Simulation is a demanding application that requires a quality LED display with the right specification and high-performance processing to give good results. The right LED display will deliver a hugely enhanced visual experience and a good overall return-on-investment.
