A virtual processor usable in a simulation system. The virtual processor may receive input from a process controller. The process controller provides control signals to the virtual processor. The virtual processor, in turn, provides process signals to one or more field instruments, eliminating the need to simulate those field instruments, by keeping the instrument(s) as part of the simulation system. The output of the field instruments may then be routed back to the process controller in a feedback loop, or simply used to determine the response of the system.