Is FOV only half the equation?

ah **** I meant vertical, yes vertical, HUGE ERROR XD

 

still that seat position thing is as important and should be talked about

 

lol

 

Roughly a month on from going to a correct FOV. Magic!

Lap times are a lot faster, more consistent and I can race wheel to wheel with more confidence.. I should have done this sooner..

 

i didn't understand properly correct fov indications from calculators, for example i play on a single 32" from 110-115 cm and correct FOV for both AC and ACC should be around 20.5° but if i set that angle i can't see anything other than a very little portion of the cockpit.
by adjusting seat position i usually play with a FOV 36° in both AC and ACC and to me it seems good but this should be an "error".

 

@jesker - Me too. I'm lucky to see the race logic LCD on a 35 deg FOV. Another reason why I would like to invest in triples..

 

Reduce 1 deg a day

 

The FOV can be very helpful when it comes to judge distances.
Different FOV can influence greatly the judgment of the braking points and the distance to car in front can vary significantly

With a lower FOV, closer to the usually perceived distance in real life, the distances are better judged and the driver react more promptly.

With a higher FOV, there is the notion that the distances are greater than they are and the driver can be induced to react a bit late, missing either the braking point or making a judgment mistake about the distance to the car in front.

Has the travel distance is the same, the use of different FOV manifests on the different perception of distance and the corresponding reaction time, that can lead to the notion that there is yet some distance to travel when, in fact, the driver should already have reacted.

Here are two situation examples of different FOV and how it can change the distance perception.
The first has FOV 47 and, immediately below, FOV 27, the one I use.







Often, I have the impression that a good number of crashing situations in online races are precisely due to the late reaction time to what is unfolding in front of the driver’s car.
I notice it in cases where the distance to the cars in front is reducing and braking or taking avoiding maneuver is mandatory, but the drivers react late to take any measures to avoid the cars in front and, so, the crash happens, sometimes multiples cars crashing into each other.

Also, in cases where a car is disputing a braking point with me, coming behind and offset, trying to overtake, I brake but the other car overshoots his braking point entirely.
When this happens I think the car behind is expecting my braking to start his own braking but, possibly due to using a high FOV, the time he lets by to react is higher than it should, probably judging an available distance greater than it is and, consequently, when his braking starts it’s already too late to be able to turn in, or, at the very best, his turn in is quite late and wide.

I'm usually a bit on the defensive in these situations, braking even a bit sooner than normally, letting him go by as I expect him to miss the turn, while I turn in already behind him, often seeing him going straight ahead or very wide by not braking soon enough. This way I try not to be side crashed by the car following me behind when I start to make the turn, trying to leave him room to go out of track or taking the corner wide.

One a side note, TrackIR is very useful when using lower FOV so the view is not constraint, as shown by the following comparison, where the screenshot below the first was taken with TrackIR at use.

 

great post Luis, thanks

 

Correct FOV helped me too - I have added TrackIR. Since I am using a 34" (Soon 49" Samsung) the issue of having to move your head but keep your eyes on the same spot on the screen is almost gone on the 34" and likely wont exist on the 49". Works extremely well. There are open source head tracker software and DIY solutions using standard webcams so if you're struggling using the correct FOV, try adding headtracking. Obviously triple screens and VR are solutions as well but you know, price and space...

 

For me there is a big problem with the so called correct calculated field of view: The sense of speed is very, very low; it seems like we are driving is slow motion...
Probably we will do better lap times because everything is so slow.
Has anybody tried a FOV of 70 or 75 with a 32" screen 80 cm away from the eyes and the view from inside just showing the car hood?
It will take just 10 or 20 laps to adjust your driving but it becomes an all new game. We really feel the speed!!!
I have a 32" monitor and my eyes are 80 cm away from it. My FOV is 75 and inside the car I only see the end part of the dashboard without any wheel or instruments...
Maybe it is just me because I used to race 5 speed gearbox karts with more than 40 hp 150 kg with driver onboard...

 

If you want to feel like you're going fast, use high FOV.
If you want to actually go fast, use low FOV.

 

Well... I apologise for my bad English writing...

 

I play sim racing for less than a year. Only ACC.
So I have a lot to improve. I am not an Alien, there are many tracks that I still do not know, and I still have to know more about setup of the car.
Nevertheless I can drive at Spa in lows 2:18 constantly lap after lap. So, I feel I am going fast and actually I am going fast with a FOV of 75 and a 32" screen 80 cm away from the eyes...
I only drive the Lambo...

 

I sympathise because I remember feeling exactly the same about the 'sense of speed'. This is due to the fact that you are currently seeing vision that should be peripheral in front of you, and it looks artificially fast as it flys off the edge of the screen.

From experience, I would urge you to try and use a correct FOV. It will certainly feel odd at first because you will be used to seeing the game in a certain way, but it is worth persevering with. Objects start to feel the correct size; the road appears the correct width; distances are easier to judge; etc. I would say with some certainty that your performance will improve if you can stick with it.

 

Will the sense of speed be better with a more powerful PC and graphics card?

 

No! The added "sense of speed" is a result of the optical illusion, no matter the hardware you use :-D

If you wear weird lenses while driving a real car, you can probably achieve the same effect.

Edit: you might be expecting more sense of speed because you underestimate how wide race tracks usually are and how far away the surroundoings are. With surrounding objects so far away, even 250 kph doesn't feel huge.

 

Take your car in the motorway and go as fast as you are able to. Stare ahead and see how slow everything looks even though some more daring people will go over 100mph.

Now take your car down some country lanes where there are hedges next to you and go 60mph.

which will feel faster?

My road is a 20mph limit and has cars parked on the pavement all the way down the side. Even 20mph feels fast.

once you understand how real life really works you will accept the correct FOV.

obviously triples and ultra widescreen ratios will feel faster as you can see objects passing in your peripheral vision.

Does anyone who feels the correct FOV is slow think that F1 cars are slow when they head towards the camera? Same thing.

 

That's actually not quite the same thing. You are describing motion parallax: where the closer the object the faster it appears to travel. In your examples the FOV of your vision doesn't physically change.