It may seem like a dark room inside a Lower Manhattan building, but for aspiring Staten Island Ferry pilots, it is the bridge of a 3,500-ton boat carrying thousands of people in all types of conditions.

The room is a high-tech simulator used as part of a three-day training course.

“They are taking a course called Bridge Resource Management, which is basically giving them better management skills of managing the team that’s in the pilothouse, so they are more effective and safer,” said Captain John Garvey, deputy commissioner of the City Department of Transportation’s Ferry Division, about the group of mates and assistant captains taking the training.

The simulator can create any kind of condition for trainees to deal with, from changes in weather and wave conditions to sharing the harbor with other marine traffic.

The recently appointed Deputy Mayor for Operations Jeffrey Roth stopped by to check out the ferry training center with Department of Transportation Commissioner Ydanis Rodríguez. Roth got to try the simulator, which has been in use for around three years.

“That’s a big investment in our people who are doing this work every day, moving thousands of people across the harbor and that’s one way that we keep the city of New York and New Yorkers safe,” Roth said.

The ferry folks gave NY1 a chance to get in on the action too. We can confirm it seriously feels like you are on the water, so much so that if you are prone to seasickness, you may have an issue. Luckily, we were able to safely dock the boat with some help from a longtime ferry pilot.

Deputy Commissioner Garvey, who’s been with the DOT since 2006, says it’s about as close as you can get to being out on the harbor.

“That’s the real deal — it’s good training, excellent training,” Garvey said.

So next time you are on the Staten Island Ferry, remember whoever is driving learned part of their craft on dry land, with the help of technology and instruction from veteran maritime pilots.