The effects of control-display gain on performance of race car drivers in an isometric braking task

To minimise lap times during car racing, it is important to build up brake forces rapidly and maintain precise control. We examined the effect of the amplification factor (gain) between brake pedal force and a visually represented output value on a driver's ability to track a target value. The test setup was a formula racing car cockpit fitted with an isometric brake pedal. Thirteen racing drivers performed tracking tasks with four control-display gains and two target functions: a step function (35 trials per gain) and a multisine function (15 trials per gain). The control-display gain had only minor effects on root mean-squared error between output value and target value, but it had large effects on build-up speed, overshoot, within-participants variability, and self-reported physical load. The results confirm the hypothesis that choosing an optimum gain involves balancing stability against physical effort.