Safety in roadway work zones remains a major challenge: accidents often stem from unpredictable driver and worker behavior, underscoring the need to understand their interactions and perceptions.Advances in virtual reality and high-fidelity simulators like CARLA enable studying behaviors in risky scenarios without real-world risk.This paper introduces VR-WISE, a VR-based driving simulation platform that captures rich driver behavior data in work zones through full-scene customization, animated roadway workers, and integrated eye-tracking and biometric sensors.VR-WISE supports rapid generation of diverse work-zone scenarios and detailed multimodal data collection to analyze driver perceptions and responses to dynamic roadside activities.A user study across three scenarios demonstrates the platform's effectiveness.Driver perception was evaluated using gaze metrics (e.g., duration and fixation ratios) and physiological signals (heart rate and electrodermal activity), providing a comprehensive understanding of attention in complex work-zone environments.