May 18, 2022
If you haven't experienced VR training first-hand, it can be difficult to visualise what it actually involves. The term 'virtual reality training' covers a very wide range of things — from fairly basic interactive videos to highly sophisticated simulations of real working environments.
In this post, we'll walk through what a well-built industrial VR training module actually looks and feels like, so you can make a more informed assessment of whether it's right for your organisation.
The starting point for any effective VR training module is an accurate representation of the environment where the training will be applied. For manufacturing and engineering companies, this means the module should look like your facility — your layout, your equipment, your operational context.
This is built from a combination of technical reference material, site visits or photography, and close collaboration with your subject matter experts. The goal is a virtual environment that your workers recognise and can navigate intuitively, because it mirrors the space they actually work in.
The trainee puts on a VR headset — typically a standalone device that doesn't require a connected PC — and is placed inside the virtual environment. From there, the experience is guided by the training objectives.
A well-designed module will have clear instructions and an intuitive interface. Trainees navigate using handheld controllers and interact with virtual objects in a way that closely mirrors how they'd interact with their real-world counterparts. The experience is first-person and immersive — the trainee isn't watching a character on screen, they're inside the scenario themselves.
The heart of good VR training is the scenario. Rather than presenting information passively, the module places the trainee in a situation where they need to make decisions. They might need to follow a specific start-up sequence for a piece of equipment, identify and respond to a hazard, execute an emergency shutdown, or demonstrate the correct use of PPE.
The module responds to their choices. Correct decisions are reinforced; incorrect ones lead to a consequence — a simulated alarm, a visual indication of what's gone wrong, or a prompt to try again. This creates the kind of active learning that builds genuine competence.
At the end of the module, trainees are assessed against the learning objectives. Results are recorded and can be fed back into your training management system, creating a clear record of who has completed the training, when, and how they performed.
This isn't just useful for your own records — it creates the kind of auditable evidence that matters for compliance purposes.
PM Training, a specialist training provider operating in the UK rail industry, came to ATXR with a VR training application for points and signalling systems that had originally been developed by university students. Functional in concept, it needed significant refinement before it could be used reliably with real trainees.
We rebuilt and optimised the codebase, improved the visual fidelity of the environment, refined the user interface, and built an additional train movement sequence that brought the consequence of signalling decisions to life. The delivered application gives PM Training a consistent, scalable tool for safety-critical education — one that immerses trainees in realistic railway scenarios without putting anyone in physical danger.
That's what a good VR training module looks like in practice.
Want to see a demo of what ATXR builds? Get in touch and we'll walk you through it.
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