Discussing Driving Views

Cntrl or Cntrl+Shift with arrows for most seat movements and fov. Alt with arrows to tilt. These give more range than available in the view settings if you need.

 

On this topic also, I think there is a disadvantage to chase cam views. With such a well done sim the visual feedback for the angle of attack is more accurate from the more realistic in-car views. Although I did read that it translates to the chase cam in this game so once adapted that probably diminishes too.
And (without high res/fov vr) the chase cam probably gives a visual awareness of the surroundings closer to real driving than the limited scope of a display.
Then again sitting lower can give a better feel for the slip angle, albeit at the cost of visual reference.
Visibility in wet conditions does seem a clear advantage for those happy with chase cams, maybe they could insert unrealistic spray or even lens wetting/fogging to counter this.
mmm

 

I see that majority of you is using the internal view, thank you guys for tuning in and voting. Hopefully I can use this poll as an example someday, whenever the question is to lock the view to the cockpit or not.
And it's not the chase cam that gives you an advantage in a sim with the wheel, but the hood camera.

 

Cockpit view for me.

You can check and setup this also in the new MFD.

 

Cockpit view only.
I play in VR so I am not even sure if I could pick any other view (never tried).
I want realism so I go one step further and turn all aids off (except engine start and pit limiter) and all widgets.
If the real car doesn't have it, neither do I.

The only exception is HUD showing speed, time, fuel, position etc.

 

I got to say something like this crossed my mind after watching Super GT youtuber couple days back and he was driving on Drive Club (game that had amazing rain physics till recently now we know what game took that spot)

now he was using chase cam (not clip from his vid)


and i immediately noticed that we miss this in ACC yes it will not solve the problem. but it will give them distraction. and depends how it would be done (for example drive club way) you never have clean screen to look trough and rain drops moving around are distracting (sort of) so it could start forcing people in interior view where at least their wipers will do something

Right now only interior view gets rain on windshield any other nothing.. so you can race in hood cam and have no obstructions from rain.

 

Cockpit view playing on a single screen : the road is small, far in front of us. Then we must decrease the FOV, and zoom in on the windshield.
If we don't hide the pilot+wheel we see another wheel+hands while we are playing with or real wheel.
Actually imo it's not the most realistic. This view is more for the gamepad players.

The best for me, playing on a screen just behind the wheel is the dashboard view. Like in real life we have a "wide screen" before the dashboard and the wheel.

But of course, the most realistic is VR. The cam is on the pilot eyes, we can see what he sees at the same scale. And we can look around.
Actually we can't really do better than this.

 

I would want to play with cockpit view but I can't set it right no matter what I do... always feels unnatural.

I have a 48" tv and play 1.2meters from it so it should be easy, but no, it feels so artificial and weird compared to a real car that I go with bonnet view.

It's sad since I did manage to get all settings perfect in PC2 on ps4 before switching to pc gaming but I can't make them right here.

If I use the fov calculators around the web they say I should use a fov so narrow that is a joke. I drive my cars since 20years ago and I can see all way different that that

So, for now, I sadly play hood view.

 

Are there actually any statistics that show that driving in bonnet/bumper view produces faster lap times? Just curious.

 

I doubt that this claim (by OP) is generally true. And I think you won't find any statistics solid enough to prove one or the other. I think good driving skills make someone fast - no matter the view.

And I play in cockpit view, exclusively.

 

Hmmm...but what you describe is exactly the way to get a realistic picture. Just imagine a picture frame the size of your screen. Take the frame and sit down in a GT3 car (well, you get the idea) at the distance of your screen in the gaming rig. What you see in the frame now is how you should set your camera in ACC. All the tools are there: FOV, Pitch, Distance...where's the issue? Hiding wheel and driver arms is logical, isn't it?

Isn't the dashboard view just some sort of preset of the cockpit view?

 

There's no real advantage of using a certain view. Maybe you can see kerbs a bit better, so what? It won't make your laptimes any faster compared to drivers who can actually drive in cockpit view. If you need to use external views so you can see the kerbs better, it means you need to learn the track better.

I'd rather not have forced view-types because it will make people who are not used to a certain view less able to judge where kerbs are and make them less safe to drive around with, simply because they're not used to it. I also think the sense of speed differs between some views, which also adds to lesser safety of driving around with people not used to certain views.

 

I used the bonnet cam. One day I tried to adjust the FOV, to have a more realistic sense of immersion, perspective and sense of distance based on my monitor, and I immediately noticed to be faster. I was faster but had lost part of the peripheral vision of that view. But it was a good deal. At this point it wasn't difficult to switch to the cockpit view (only the dashboard, without the steering wheel) because the vision was almost similar, but the experience was much more realistic.
So what's the point in my opinion: with the bonnet cam you think you are advantaged but if you do not have the right adjustment of the FOV you're going slower than you think. Once you use the right FOV value, switching to the cockpit view becomes very easy and also convenient.
Is clear that, to switch to this view, has been very useful the radar widget.

 

That what I was saying : "The best for me, playing on a screen just behind the wheel is the dashboard view"
The cockpit view is most realistic when it's tweaked with FOV, distance etc, but then we basically recreate the default dashboard view...

 

I don't think a lot of good drivers can drive with external cam, I hate it (it's really disorienting as someone said above) as a wheel user but at the same time I'm pretty sure I never got overtaken by a 3rd person cam user. I'm more against people that use gamepad but obviously not everyone can use a wheel and discriminating people for what they use (talking about cam and keyboard and gamepad) is really bad. Actually I'm against setting first person only as a rule since I had fun with some guys on GTR2 recently when I still used to play with a gamepad so just work on yourself because it's not a different cam that makes you win races imho

EDIT: y'all set your fov right and you won't have problem even with cockpit cam (personally I use the one without steering wheel since I really don't need to see two wheels lol)

 

iRacin

but IME the Dashboard view, with the correct FOV, limits the horizontal field of view too much. I prefer cockpit view, especially since I still can’t see the mfd anyway so I end up using a phone with an app to replicate the dash

 

Hi Karsten, that makes alot of sense as in a car the view 1.2m in front of you would be on the bonnet. The windscreen however would be much closer and that is probably why the fov calculators won't work best for that setup (picture a 48inch frame out on your bonnet which you couldn't see either side of).
I have a similar distance to a tv and do a few things. Move the view forward and up and adjust the tilt until the windscreen pillars, roof and dash barely 'frame' your display. Then fine tune the forward distance and fov to make it comfortable. An ultra wide resolution helps also as it is closer to the dimensions of the windscreen than standard 16:9, and it will allow you to sit a little closer comfortably. Your view will be past the wheel also and you can use cockpit or helmet view without any obstruction, as the wheel in a car isn't that far away either. If sticking with 16:9 try some level of horizon lock to reduce the head tilt to dash under braking if using the excellent helmet cam.

 

This is the first game I play where I actually enjoy the cockpit camera.
Project Cars 2, where I used the external camera, shows the driver's hands and the steering wheel which gets in the way in my opinion.
However, the real reason for me to use the external camera, is better view of cars around me, to avoid accidents. Sometimes you just don't know where people are and the little popup on ACC to show opponents locations is absolutely amazing in my opinion.
I don't have 3 displays, but ACC lets me play with the cockpit camera, while knowing where people are, without the annoying view of the wheel as well.

 

1.2 meters is a huge distance.

The distance to a dashboard car is something in the vicinity of 60/70 cm, the windshield is further, but in cockpit view the closest thing seen is the dashboard, so that should be the reference rather than the windshield (unless the view is set so forward that the dash isn’t no longer visible).

For 1.2m distance the calculators must be giving a FOV around 30” or less, as for a distance around 65 cm it should be close to 50”.
It’s a quite significant change to use a FOV of 30” and one of 50”.
If you could get closer to the TV surely your driving perception will be closer to what you expect.

 

Real simracers only use cockpit view, all the rest are pussy's..