The special-effects software used by Hollywood to show cars careening around corners or sliding over icy roads could be coming to a showroom near you for a virtual test drive.

Drive-A-Tron is a program developed by Big Block, a digital production studio founded last year in Santa Monica. The program produces images of cars in motion with a high degree of realism because it can replicate the performance of a specific car model, down to the deformation of the tires when they hit a bump. To achieve this, programmers input the technical specifications of a particular vehicle including weight, center of gravity, wheelbase and even brake friction. Using these data and the laws of physics, Drive-A-Tron calculates how the car would appear in motion over a particular surface.

Until now, the program has been available only to film studios and advertising agencies that pay as much as several hundred-thousand dollars to use it for TV commercials or film sequences.

But Kenny Solomon, executive producer at Big Block, is about to bring Drive-A-Tron to auto shows and car dealerships for a test drive. Engineers and programmers at the company are working to combine the visual effects of Drive-A-Tron with a motion simulator. The seat, steering wheel and gear shift will come from a specific car model and be mounted in a cabin. That will allow visitors to take a virtual drive, similar to what you see in an arcade.

“It will give you the full yawl, tilt, spin and G-forces of driving the vehicle,” Solomon said. “You can drive the real streets of Los Angeles or a virtual environment, and we can put in road obstacles.”

This may become a new line of business for the company. Within the next three months, Solomon plans to debut Drive-A-Tron in a manufacturer’s exhibit at a major auto show. After that, he hopes to make the Drive-A-Tron cabin an attraction at selected dealerships. Beyond that, he believes the device eventually can help train race car teams or firefighters who drive ladder trucks.

Solomon noted that human error remains a risk factor even in digital reality. He recalled one advertising executive who took the steering wheel of Drive-A-Tron in the studio and successfully drove her Ford Mustang around a loop-de-loop.

“She was so excited she jumped up and started cheering,” he related. “But she forgot to stop the car and it crashed into a wall.”