THE video game experience has arrived in the automobile.  It’s called the virtual cockpit and, starting with Audi, it will become a more common feature in cars in the not too distant future.  Gone are the traditional mechanical dials — the speedometer, the tachometer, the various gauges and pointers — and in their place is a 12.3-inch LCD screen that houses an animated instrument cluster.  The high-resolution screen, which lights up behind the steering wheel, directly in the driver’s line of sight, can be programmed to show several functions — for navigation, a cellphone, radio and media, Google Earth 3-D graphics, and traffic data. That is in addition to the usual functions of showing speed, engine revolutions, outside temperature and the gas level.  By any standard, it’s an abundance of information, all on one screen. But it also has some drivers and experts asking: How much is too much, and will consumers understand it?  Paul A. Green, a research professor at the University of Michigan’s Transportation Research Institute, expressed concern over displays.  “One of the principles here is that displays that people use while driving generally should not be dynamic,” said Mr. Green, who said that he had not spent any time auditioning the system. “It becomes like a movie that you’re watching, and anything that adds even a half a second or so is problematic.”  Audi said that a central objective in designing the virtual cockpit was simplicity.  “If you look at the virtual cockpit and notice something different, we’ve failed,” said Justin Goduto, a spokesman for Audi. “How can we achieve a functional operation in as few steps as possible?”  The on-screen menus are designed to allow access to items with a single click of the steering wheel buttons, Mr. Goduto said. “We don’t want people having to dive down.”  The heart of the virtual cockpit is a powerful computer processor made by Nvidia.  Nvidia said that precision and safety were two important goals of the virtual cockpit.  “Driver distraction is a big issue, and if you have graphics that don’t look good, poor-quality maps that lag, that are hard to read, it becomes a distraction,” said Danny Shapiro, senior director for automotive development at Nvidia.  The virtual cockpit does have its adherents.  Michael Wong test-drove a new Audi Q7 with and without the system, and wound up ordering the vehicle with the virtual cockpit.  “If it was a feature to sell Audis, they’ve accomplished their mission,” he said.  “I’d rather have the luxury of having those functions than not,” said Mr. Wong, who lives in Stamford, Conn., and is in the Army Reserve. He allowed that duplicating the information on the virtual cockpit and the center screen might be overkill. He also noted that having dueling information available can be distracting, but added, “Picking up a phone call can be distracting. You got to pick your poison.”  Because the Audi technology is so new and integrated into only a few of the brand’s vehicles — the 2016 TT and the 2017 A4 sedan, Q7 sport utility vehicle and R8 sports car — mass-market reaction has been limited.  But a study about to be made public raises concerns about how challenging it is to use Audi’s Virtual Cockpit 1.0, said Kristin Kolodge, executive director of driver interaction at J. D. Power, the research firm.  The study, which asked about buyers’ attitudes toward the system in the Audi TT two-seater coupe, found that the TT’s virtual cockpit presented a “complex system with a number of layers,” she said.  “It’s going to take a significant amount of time for the consumer to learn it,” said Ms. Kolodge, who declined to divulge specific data from the study before it was released.  The virtual cockpit is not a standard feature in base models. To add it to the A4 Premium Plus model requires buying a $3,250 technology package option.  But to Aadel Khan, it’s worth it. He bought the system for his two-month-old Audi Q7, which cost $73,000.  “It’s one of the reasons I bought the car,” said Mr. Khan, who works in auto performance tuning in Houston.  “I love being able to toggle the gauges from larger to smaller,” Mr. Khan said. “Hey, do you need your speedometer to be big? You just need a digital readout to tell you how fast you’re going. And having the map right in front of you is nice, because you’re only glancing up and down, and you don’t have to look to the right.”  Mr. Shapiro of Nvidia said that his company was working with several other manufacturers, including Tesla, Honda, the Volkswagen group (Audi is part of that family) and Mercedes-Benz, which last year showed its own system that incorporates an array of digital displays in and around the dashboard.  Not all automakers, including General Motors, agree with the approach, however.  “We recognize the need to push the tech, but we have different philosophies in how we present the information to the driver,” said Nick Richards, a spokesman for General Motors. “We have a belief that information should be displayed in multiple locations.”  He added, “There are some functions you want to have redundant on a nice big beautiful display in the center.”  G.M. is also taking another view at cockpit display technology: the rear view.  Cadillac’s CT6 sedan offers a feature called the “full display mirror,” which transforms the inside rearview mirror into a high-resolution digital display that is fed images from a backward-facing camera mounted atop the car.  The device, developed by Gentex Corporation, is a hybrid as well, with a toggle to revert to a conventional mirror if the electronic display fails.  “It is a mirror first and foremost, because there are cases when the drivers want to look at the people behind them during conversations,” said Neil Boehm, vice president for engineering at Gentex.  “On the other hand, with passengers in the back, or luggage piled up, or you’re bringing the kids home from school, by having the display you still have a great view of what’s behind,” he said.  Gentex’s mirror will be offered in the coming Chevrolet Bolt and by other manufacturers in coming months, Mr. Boehm said.  A version of this article appears in print on May 20, 2016, on page B3 of the New York edition with the headline: In the Virtual Cockpit, Technology Is Your Co-Pilot. Order Reprints| Today's Paper|Subscribe
Audi is the first carmaker to offer the screen, which replaces traditional dials like the speedometer, and can also show maps, radio and other functions.