Sim Racing Field of View (FOV) - Sim Racing Explained Quick!

Sim Racing Field of View Calculators:
dinex86.github...
andyf.me/fovca...
www.projectimm...
Because we all have different gaming setups, sim racing software can't know how how far you sit from the screen or the size of your monitor, and therefor how the field of view of the in-game camera should be set to make sure that there's no disconnect between your in-game vision, and your real world vision. And that's the goal here, to sync up your real world view with that in the game.
Field of view calculation takes into account the size of the monitor, essentially your window into the racing sim, and the distance that your eyes are positioned from the monitor.
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[@grrinc]

You have the potential to end up looking like the old fella from Pixars UP!

[@ChrisHaye]

My wife says the same thing!

[@go_u_r_python412]

@Bryce Griffin Are ya gonna start a bot chain.

[@jonboy602]

One thing I see rarely get mentioned in these vids is the fact that camera position can be set independently from FOV, and will give you the ability to see more of the cockpit. I suspect many people adjust their FOV incorrectly because they otherwise have the feeling their nose is mashed against the steering wheel, which is also not realistic (unless you set your seat position like my Gran). It would have been worth mentioning this I think. iRacing for example requires you to be psychic to figure out camera position adjustments on your own.

[@vatch07075]

"Just... WOW." Perfectly put, Chris. I feel like this subject can be the poster for beating a dead horse. So much info out there. Plus, it really is a bit of a preference. Unless you ask the FOV police... there's always one in the crowd. You have a way with words, and a way of getting to the point. Nice one, once again!

[@ChrisHaye]

Thanks Ed. I was really surprised just how often I was being asked about it. It seems simple on the surface, but there's no explanation in any of the sims. Seems like an oversight to me.

[@vatch07075]

@@ChrisHaye exactly what led me to research the topic until i understood it. Your reference to Empty Box is a great one.

[@DanDiMaggio]

There is no amount of help videos that will convince people about FOV. We've all done it over and over.

[@ChrisHaye]

You may well be right! :)

[@JJ-pi3wz]

Whoever didn't listen is really missing out. When i got mine set properly it was way easier to see my marks and i gained a full second and a half on my lap times. Your video was the first i saw on this subject. Also feels way more natural too

[@AndreaP76]

@@JJ-pi3wz Your personal experience doesn't matter. I did the same once and felt the same and I would have agreed with you, and I noticed I was going faster too. But that didn't last long. I was faster but I was losing consistency, especially during races instead of hotlapping, when I missed reference points my errors were more severe and so on. Going back to the default setting for example in ACC I was faster than before, I could see better around me and that led me to be more consistent and, like I said, faster again. And that's why you can't compare the flat surface of a monitor to what you think you would see in real life. The calculation may be mathematically correct but it's still not the same thing. Also, some people can prefer a dashcam view because that's what they would see behind their wheel, while others prefer the default view to see what they would see in a real car (talking about ACC, David Perel is one of them, but other real pilots prefer to do the same). For me, the helmet cam in ACC gives me so much visual and "feeling" feedback that I can't go back after I've tried it. It's really just a personal preference, what's good for you may not be good for someone else. I can't use low fovs in sims and fps games, because I get that bit of motion sickness and that feeling of always having a zoomed view like I was looking through a sniper rifle, someone else could simply tell me "wtf are you talking about?" because they have no problems with that etc...So, if the "correct fov" works for you, good, the whole discussion for sure helps people find what's best for them, but don't assume that a perfect setting "on paper" can be perfect for anyone.

[@zwenkwiel816]

still doesn't stop me from posting this link for everyone who's still wrong XD

[@sidneygosselin3168]

I put the setting in and I’m supposed to use 12 degrees in asseto corsa lol

[@MateoLiveBett]

Same bruh said 16.9 some fucking bullshit

[@user-wf7pe3zb8q]

At least you will have a full screen clearly readable view of... the speedometer....

[@spizzlo]

Great video Chris. You did however leave out how FOV and sitting further forward/back are two different settings. You can have the "correct" FOV and still move back to see the mirrors, for example. Maybe you didn't want the video to be overly long, but I think that is relevant information for people when figuring out FOV settings.

[@2JZ.4ME]

I had a go at this and I reckon it took about 1 minute of driving until it just clicked and I realised the sheer gravitation this change will make. I am slower, I am overwhelmed by the increased violence of the cars movements but the force feedback feels so much more relevant with the information on screen. It's hard to explain but my car control is infinitely better now. My ability to catch slides and keep the car in a straight line is unparalleled as well as my judgement of upcoming corners. I thought it was my equipment this whole time but it was just the FOV (would never have guessed). I went from 70 to 38.5 and wow. I'm going to be smashing my fastest lap times in no time. Thank you very much!

[@user-wf7pe3zb8q]

The placebo effect. Keep it up...

[@Tom-zc9gs]

I have an ultrawide 34' and I've tried several tweaks. I sit about 75cm from the monitor, and I used to use a FOV of 33-35 degrees in ACC. While I've recognised the ease of better judging some of the brake zones, I've never felt like I was comfortable enough with the view during racing. At points I would still manage to be unable to track the apex and follow the line through the tighter corners because of it. Adjusting seat position doesn't work as well for me, because going as far back as I'd like tends to clip with the driver viewmodel. I've experimented for a while with 45 and found myself a bit more comfortable, then recently went back to the ACC default FOV to see the difference. My preference is now around 50ish degrees, but I might still tweak it a bit more to arrive at a better compromise between wider view and long distance definition. I feel the math-correct FOV works on a theoretical basis, but in actual basis we have to account for not just our eyesights, our position relative to the screen (my seat position in the rig is slightly below the wheel and the screen) the flatness of the screen and whatnot... and then there's the matter of personal preference. I feel more immersed when I can see the hands and wheels in the cockpit, while it is most inefficient for competitive simracers. I also feel like I need to see more out of the sides to have a better idea of the space between me and another car when going side by side through a corner, instead of simply assume where they are. In the end I believe nobody should be slammed for using "incorrect FOV", as we're simracers and we pretend driving cars through a flat screen, so no need to get jumpy at a virtual simulation that should give us first and foremost enjoyment, not random slandering. It's great to be informative like Chris did in his video, not so great to impose ideas on others.

[@murphxmurph]

Something I never see touched on in the FOV discussion is adjusting the in game seat position once you've set your FOV. I'm a lot more comfortable with mathematically correct FOV when I move the seat position around to better represent how the interior should look from the drivers POV. It seems like most sims start out with a crazy high FOV, then scoot the camera forward to get an accurate cockpit view. So after lowering the FOV, the seat position needs to be pushed back, and sometimes raised up a bit. I like to make the steering wheels match up and use the third person camera to figure out some markers I can use to configure an accurate driver's eye position, ie the eyes are just above the dash, level with a weld on the roll cage, etc. I'll forego a little bit of accuracy to see the in car display comfortably above my sim wheel. Depending on which sim and car you're using, the eye level isn't always pitched properly to the horizon either so that's something I also like to double check. I've noticed some AC mods have really weird seat positions as well, and formula cars tend to need some adjustment to feel right in a GT style seating position.

[@FINALLYQQQQAVAILABLE]

Adjusting the seat position is crucial. Also, the eye level should be pitched to the horizon only if the monitor is perfectly at eye level. Otherwise it might be beneficial to match the in-game camera angle to the plane determined by your eyes and the center of the monitor. That way the virtual horizon will match the natural horizon.

[@JIGCARR]

This video has totally changed my sim racing experience for the better Chris, I’ve made a large adjustment and what a difference! Thank you for the great content 👏👏

[@Lunadix28]

I think this is a video that every simracer have to see. thank you

[@boostedmedia]

I'm calling the FOV police! Seriously though, flawlessly explained mate.

[@AidanMillward]

But muh... Oh, you did that bit... It's annoying for me that iRacing's FOV only goes to 45, since in rf2 I'm running 39. And yes, I get comments about the FOV too, looks totally normal for me but I guess if you're watching on a phone, tablet or your own ultrawide 4k ultra turbo plasma monitor it'll be different. But that's how the world looks to me through these spectacles :P

[@ChrisHaye]

I used to respond with "did you just assume the size of my monitor" - but that got old pretty quickly!

[@emsbikestories2491]

Used this video to fix my FOV and got almost 2 seconds quicker and understand some map geometry better! Insane difference and importance of this can't be understated!

[@TheGeldman99]

I just discovered your channel, watched 2 vids and laughed over 10 times. So helpfull, clear and fun to watch! I've subbed.

[@andrewbonhomme8069]

I dislike wasting my time on poor quality videos and what I like about your videos Chris is that I’ll learn something and it’ll be presented in a thought out way. Congrats on another beauty

[@bravo86831]

Dude no joke I randomly came across your videos. Just because I was googling Simulator racing. And I just want to tell you that your videos are so high quality what they're about are important things that people need to know if they really want to do get serious interest in raising or making a Sim rig I just want to tell you good job.

[@rafaellordelo1755]

Dude, that was soooo enlightening to me!! Even my lap times are better just fixing that!!!!! Thank you so much!

[@gearmeister]

A much needed explanation.... I used the "future proof" or the 2nd calculator you showed... also, for most everyone, the steering wheel should be barely exposed in the FOV, if at all.... thanks, man

[@ChrisHaye]

Heh, I mean if you've got a 50" screen sat right behind your wheel it's fine to have see some of the drivers knees ;)

[@gearmeister]

@@ChrisHaye lol..... 😂😂😂😂 good one....

[@gearmeister]

@@ChrisHaye What we're after here is a simulation of what you'll see sitting in the driver's seat in a real race car.... I guess if you're really short like granny, you might have trouble seeing over the wheel... 😂😂😂

[@panvlk]

To be honest, from the remark about the steering wheel it doesn't seem like you understood the explanation:).

[@gearmeister]

@@panvlk I added the steering wheel part based on a general concensus about line of sight, i.e., if you are looking at your racing wheel, there's not much need to have the in game wheel glaring at you, or up too high. I was simply adding to, because as Chris stated, there's too many who don't have a grasp on the proper adjustment.

[@azaralamouri5140]

1 important thing to make it feel better, (maybe this is because I need to see what I would REALLY SEE IF THE SCREEN WAS A WINDOW PUT AT THE SAME DISTANCE FROM MY EYES AS THE SCREEN, IS PUT AND I SEE THROUGH IT WHAT I WOULD SEE IN REAL LIFE?). That thing is that sometimes I feel I would like to get the car seat closer to the dash, or to make the driver longer, or the seat higher, or change the pitch angel to feel my level right, or see the road better or the hood or the car dash. But if the screen was that window and your answer to the question I asked was "yes", then there is only 1 way to set NOT ONLY THE FOV, but also the pitch and angel. Imagine that the same you are in the same car seat on the same road at the same uphill or downhill. You SHOULD see always see the same thing. Now, why all those too many details, because all the friends I asked said it's not an important issue. Even I have never found online any way to adjust those numbers to make you see in the screen what you would see in real life based on the height of that window or frame (I mean screen).

[@azaralamouri5140]

1 more question, and please help me here because my brain isn't working. We are sitting stationary and to correctly simulate that empty frame (screen) from which we see the world, should we unlock the horizon and then what we see (from the road) changes according to whether we are going up or down hill? Maybe those issues are already known by gamers but I don't know them, because since I started driving sims until my VR failed I only use VR.

[@azaralamouri5140]

And for those who don't know,VR gives you correct realistic Field of view. And they are even better than the 49 inch super ultra wide monitors.

[@WuschelWolf]

Actually one of the main reasons why I moved forward to VR so I don't have to mess around with an FOV of 55° anymore. :D

[@ChrisHaye]

Yeah, I must admit, having much wider view in VR is very nice. Also, swapping between sims feels a lot more fluid.

[@KacKLaPPeN23]

cries in 19° in Assetto Corsa yea... DIY simrig with a 21" screen, I ended up using almost double the "perfect" value just so I could see more than half the width of the track.

[@dsi24]

My favorite part about switching to VR was how much it felt like I just took off the blinders compared to my correct FOV, and that was on 3x 24 inch 16:9 monitors. The feel of scale and distance didn't change outside of 3D making it even easier to judge (especially near-car, I get way closer to the walls/off-track than before), just so much more open/freeing.

[@dadvader6197]

@@KacKLaPPeN23 find yourself a used tv on CL, cheaper than a monitor

[@eVieww]

@@dadvader6197 and say goodbye to low input lag and pixel response times ;D

[@bradwhiteuk]

As a relative sim-racing newcomer playing on a 24 inch monitor sat about 30 inches from my face I have to say that the ~22.5° vertical/38° horizontal that is recommended for me seems much too narrow. I think this is because the FOV calculators don't at all factor in your ability to move your eyes or head left to right. Also the width of your monitor (unless you're running a triple-screen or ultrawide setup) is really unlikely to stretch to your eye's actual FOV (including your peripheral vision) as you sit, so the resulting FOV from these calculators can be somewhat like looking at the racetrack through a postage stamp, or with your chin perched on the dashboard. When I worked out my ideal FOV i started with these calculated values and adjusted them to taste, which is what I highly recommend to others.

[@bradwhiteuk]

@@WhiteHawk77 I kinda agree, and that's sort of what I'm saying. The calculators are strictly correct mathematically, but when your window into the world is small it's really not suitable to rely on their values. You can say my monitor is the problem - I agree it's obviously not ideal - but regardless the calculators don't provide the best solution for all users, and I think that should be stipulated and that others (particularly single monitor users) should know not to blindly stick with the "correct" FOV. This is a weirdly militant subject, where people (even guys like David Perel) are often derided for doing it wrong. I think it's not a black and white situation, and some significant amount of leeway should be acceptable for individual taste and situation.

[@thesnitch7]

Immersion and correct outside world scaling definitely has limitations with small monitors. The only real answer is to get a bigger monitor in your case. But it really depends on what experience your looking for. For immersion and accuracy of driving to braking points and apex's and consistant lap times - bigger is better. If you're looking for some fun driving - 24" is fine.

[@ProSimRacing]

Great explanation buddy, sometimes it's just better to keep things simple to avoid confusion. Sometimes it feels like a discussion on "field of view" is like "beating a dead horse" as the saying goes, it seems like some people will never get it no matter how you try to explain to them the benefits of having the proper FOV. Great video as usual buddy, keep up the great work.

[@larsnienberg5488]

1:40 Now that's a reference I haven't heard in a long time!

[@larsnienberg5488]

@Armathynx Yes, at least that's what I thought of when I heard it

[@TheMightyDodger]

I’ve got a simple solution for the FOV issue... VR! At least with my Pimax 5K+ it’s just a game changer!!! But seriously, thank you for this absolute awesome video! Absolute top notch, as always! Thank you!😃✌🏻

[@amped96]

Wow. I'm new to trying out "real sims" and all my history of virtual racing was mostly Gran Turismo. I was super skeptical watching this video and even more skeptical after seeing the tiny recommended FOV for Assetto Corsa, but I tried it out. WOW. This is the first time driving virtually that its ever felt so natural. Braking is now so much more realistic and easier to judge. Thanks for making this and I like your other videos as well.

[@alphalobster8021]

Brilliant explanation. The new goto vid on the subject I'll wager...

[@ChrisHaye]

Gracias Alpha!

[@daronwebster6510]

never paid much attention to this. Did the calculator... big changes to the way I normally race however lap times dropping and I can sense what the car is doing much better. This is a free upgrade!!!

[@niekie1999]

6:15 I’m glad you mentioned it. People seem way to obsessed with a “correct” fov, just use whatever feels comfortable. My fov is way higher than the mathmatical fov simply because my monitor isn’t very large, and is quite far away. And since I don’t have the space for adjustment of either of those things, I’m stuck with a way to high fov, and honestly, it feels fine.

[@vMaxDaniel]

90° is like driving seated on the rear wing! 😂 In my case, I'm in last group. I calculated my FOV and then slightly adjusted to get just a tiny bit of side vision, mainly to look better at the corners apex when turning left on left side steered car. I think one other tool to help the vision, is after setting the right FOV, is to play with the seat position. Like, one can have 30° FOV and the image will set on top of the dashboard, but pulling the seat back, will keep the FOV but will give more side vision.

[@ChrisHaye]

Wide angle eyes!

[@vMaxDaniel]

@@ChrisHaye lol that reminded me of that dude, that in the movie armageddon, is seated on top the atomic bomb 😂😂

[@tvrdy3]

How much back is ok? Is it good to move seat back?

[@Manowarmx3]

As someone who is involved with real racing i can tell you that not seeing the apex through some corners with the "correct" fov means that you need to dial it down. I find a *1.2 to what the calculators give you is more in line. This ofc. does not apply to 3 screen setups!

[@thesnitch7]

Good vid. But - I would have liked to see you go thru the ability to adjust the inside view of the car. This is so people can see more dash or mirrors or wheel in their view or get their face off the windscreen and STILL have a reasonable FOV. They go together. Many people don't realise they can have the best of both worlds.

[@Rapid_GT]

For which sim though ? i'm sure ppl can and have already made the required adjustments to their liking.

[@andymb601]

My main sim of choice is Project Cars 2, and what I like to do is put my camera directly above or in front of my steering wheel, then set the FOV to the widest. So now I don't have any unnecessary interior on my screen and I can see the full width of my car. Then you get the sense of speed as a side bonus, and not entirely unnecessary! I'll probably bring it down a bit after watching this though. Can't wait to give it a try!

[@LordFarquaad007]

I’ve heard other Sim racing channels talk about the peripherals being beneficial because you can look further into the upcoming turn in and perform a better Apex exit.

[@mcmdigitalracing7481]

Hey Chris, really enjoy and appreciate your informative videos! Great no nonsense delivery and content...

[@XRedcomet]

I didn't understand what the fuss was all about until I actually tried changing my FOV... For me, tweaking just -6 degrees in Assetto Corsa ended up equalling SECONDS off lap times nearly instantly - it was like my Medium tires suddenly became Super Softs. Previously difficult corners suddenly became much more manageable, particularly ones with long braking zones. My lap times became much more consistent and I wasn't spinning or crashing nearly as much as I used to. Sounds like a panacea, but to be honest I am still far away from my "ideal" calculated FOV - which is impossibly small because I'm pretty much forced to sit fairly far away from my 46'' TV at home. So thanks Chris for also pointing out that sometimes compromise is unavoidable!

[@Redslayer86]

I once tried to use the FOV other people told me I should use. After 45 minutes, I was still 3 seconds a lap slower. So, I went back to what I liked.

[@Gustinelli]

So, calculator said my fov in AC should be 15, now i can't see shit.

[@hstevefrancis1003]

so you should move the screen to your steer wheel a lot more or a bigger screen at current position

[@Gustinelli]

@@hstevefrancis1003 i did both of those, but now I just use default fov(54) or 40

[@nivracer]

My calculated fov is like 30, I sue somewhere between 35-40 on my laptop.

[@jesuisFORTIO]

@@nivracer mine was 30 too, i start using it and its great, looking fowards to setup triple monitors to see a bit more

[@freejrs]

Why not just set the correct FOV then move the ingame seat back a bit to gain more peripheral vision?? Always worked for me.

[@zwenkwiel816]

just drive from the back seat XD

[@mauriceroijen7486]

Great info, great video. This helps a lot. Thank you so much Chris. Let's go and try some settings.

[@sayf_mu]

Very clear and helpful, i find the fov was too close using my small monitor (42 degrees), but i found that headtrackers help immensly. I would recommend getting one if you can't afford the space and or money for a large monitor or a triple mon setup

[@ecrook84]

I´m kind of new in Sim Racing and heard about the FOV Thing but didn´t really take care of it. Know i decided to give shot and calculate my FOV. At first i was shocked and thought i did something because on a 34" 21:9 with 100cm the calculated FOV is really slow. I started my test track and didn´t get properly around the frist corner and would instantly turn it back tho old FOV. But after i watched your video i gave it a nother shot and man your are right. With still some crashes in case of the changed angle i beat my PB of 20sec. Thank you for the explanation

[@captain_sly-d5186]

While you are driving, if you close your right eye you have the exact view angle of the standard racing games cockpit view. Meaning that in racing games every pilot have only one eye working.

[@MarkRiddellRacing]

Empty Box explained this perfectly well a few years ago. Didn't need another video about it

[@RWoody1995]

He did reference empty box's video

[@jaredvanbergen7904]

Nice and concise.

[@ChrisHaye]

Thanks Jared. Much appreciated :)

[@neonnerd1364]

The best fov is the one that works best for you. There's no best go to number. Personally I use about 72 degrees because it's just enough to see mirrors and still retain a good sense of depth out of the windshield. At least for me.

[@squeakers27]

Yeah I prefer to see out of the windscreen mostly rather than seeing 40% of the car's interior haha but you really did explain it very very well

[@gopherchucksgamingnstuff2263]

Great vid Chris, I still play in VR so no field of view adjustment. But it does still look good and feel fast.

[@ChrisHaye]

Yeah, I probably should have mentioned that VR makes all of this go away. I can just imagine someone trying to measure the distance between their eyes and the screen on their VIVE :P

[@LordMonkus]

@@ChrisHaye oh shit, you mean I shouldn't be trying to measure that ? lol jk, great video I remember when I first setup a "proper" fov in rFactor years ago and it felt slow at first but once I got used to it it really was so much better and made for better consistency. Nowadays it's VR all the way.

[@gopherchucksgamingnstuff2263]

@@ChrisHaye Well you could just say, the closer the lens the wider field you have. just try not to let your eyelid scrape on it lol.

[@nielsverwoerd9499]

Really Nice explanation ive been struggeling to get My POV right

[@Finreii]

Doing a bit of research on the perception of speed in video games as a whole at the moment, and one thing I've found interesting is how much the way you play can affect your preference on settings like FOV. Simracing seems to be the main game you play, and I am assuming you have spent a fair amount on your setup and play a bit competitively. as such, you focus on your game seamlessly lining up with the real world so that you can more accurately judge your cars movements and position. However I own a T300RS GT and spread my time across a variety of games instead of focusing on one (including MMO's, FPS and some other genres) and I prefer a slightly higher FOV while racing for the sense of speed as it makes me feel more immersed. This might negatively affect my judgement of position and movement a bit, but for me that's okay as I am not changing it to be competitive, I am changing it so it can feel a bit cooler! Infact, matching my FOV with my real life view is a completely new concept to me. I guess because of the types of games I play, I have just never looked into it. Awesome video! Short, precise and informative. :)

[@JCTiggs1]

While setting the proper fov may be correct for the setup someone is using, I still prefer to add several more degrees degrees above the 'proper' FOV since I want to have a better sense of speed, after all it is a racing sim. Doing this increases the 'perceived' speed since it makes the stationary objects 'appear' to pass by faster.

[@doc7000]

Ultra wide monitor helps out, I know this is why people use triple monitors. However one ultra wide gives you the best of both worlds as it gives you a wider view while being simpler and easier to run then 3 monitors. However VR will render the 3 monitor setup for mostly people who get motion sickness in VR.

[@projectkhan2962]

Bro, this came out a day early. EmptyBox's Vid came out on 12.02.18 xD

[@ChrisHaye]

Ahhh, totally didn't spot that. Good eyes!

[@Pillokun]

Kind of felt like this was a response to David Perel where he recently said in a live stream that he does not matter about using correct fov :P

[@Pillokun]

@@designamk1160 Of course it does, it affect how sharp the turns appears to you. When you run with a too high fov compared to what you should run, you may simply not turn the wheel enough and try to get into the turns at way too fast speeds. Proper Fov is important if you want to be fast.

[@goranmajnaric556]

Big thing what should be included in every sim is to move your set forward and setting height, which would get you close to the windsheld, and + you can boost some more fov for sense of speed.

[@glutenfreesr9858]

Watched some David Perel's stream with ACC, the FOV police said he's got it wrong , even when he replicates his real in car view!

[@sandalogaming6766]

The only thing I thought when I saw this was: “Seriously? Are you guys reeeeally going to try to teach an actual GT3 driver how to set up a sim?” Smh

[@thesnitch7]

@@sandalogaming6766 There are hundreds of millions of people who drive cars for thousands of hours. They all know what the view outside a damn car windscreen looks like. This view is not exclusive to race car drivers. This is the great thing about this hobby. If you have access to some basic equipment - anyone can do it. Noone is telling him how to set up a sim - as you've said. There is ONE SETTING, one only. Just one. One. And it's NOT the 'in car view' that you mention. It's the OUTSIDE view. There is a HUGE difference.

[@thesnitch7]

In that vid I think he had FOV set to 49 - which is possible if he has a 45-49" monitor and sits super close. If you want to set up the INSIDE view of the car so you have everything on screen that your PERIPHERAL VISION sees in the real car which is what he does - that's fine. But set the OUTSIDE view to something in the ballpark to stop the distortion. Within 5 degrees is fine. No need for 29.1234 They are two. different. settings ....... David has already admitted that in sim driving he has to readjust his braking points - because FOV was off at the time. That's on record. Key points FOV - the view OUTSIDE when using DIRECT vision Drivers view - the view INSIDE the car - ie the cockpit PERIPHERAL VISION - gives an ILLUSION of a very wide field of DIRECT vision. Hundreds of millions of people drive cars. You do not need to be a pro racing driver to know what the view looking through the windscreen looks like. This hobby is not exlusive to the super rich or super gifted.

[@whysoslow1999]

@@sandalogaming6766 you and OP do understand the monitor is the dash&windshield, not a window to your player's eyes, because you already have a head further away IRL? Having your camera in your drivers head with like 120 FOV means you are using a weird form of 3rd person. Perel does not know any better than anyone who has driven a car because a racecar cockpit isnt magically much different.

[@STF_YVR]

Perel does not replicate his real in car view and that’s the problem, if he does not have enough peripheral vision then he should change his setup: get triple, VR or track IR.

[@christopherlees3684]

The FOV calcs look nothing like when I’m in VR. Makes the corners too sharp

[@ChrisHaye]

Yeah, VR really spoiled me for a long time. Perfect FOV and a 90-110 degrees of vision is pretty great which every way you look at it!

[@pearlio7297]

VR is where it’s at

The video that Empty Bwaax made set me up ages ago with this aspect of sim racing.

[@Zeppelinpuppy]

Danke schön :)

[@glutenfreesr9858]

So you can race actually from in car view.... Mind blown!

[@ChrisHaye]

I only race from the Heli-cam. Give it a Scalextric vibe!

[@MajorWolf72]

Difference between games and sims 😜

[@Chitown388]

it makes sense! Unfortunately, two different calculators gave two drastically different FoV. FOV-calculator gave 36.8-degree horizontal FoV and fovcalc gave 55.9-degree H-FoV for the same input of 34" curved triple screen monitors and 710cm distance from eye to screen. No wonder why this is confusing!

[@ashleighcurtis]

David Sampson has a fantastic video all about Iracing FOV it's probably one of the best out there 👍

[@joelchambers]

Hate the so called FOV police because proper in game FOV is highly dependent on how much money you can spend. If you can afford a giant ultra wide G9/VR then you are going to be able to have a wider FOV and make better turns vs someone with a 24" screen simulating tunnel vision. Play what feels best for you

[@RoadRunner1980]

According to various calculators my FOV would be so narrow that I can't even look into the next corner. Absolutely unplayable.

[@SpookyRipples9]

*SEAT POSITION of driver ingame,* is the primary thing I use to adjust. Move it backwards untill car bonate, side mirror, & small part of steering wheel is visible, so that player can get a good sence of speed by observing passing trees, G-forces simulated by head motion mod (in AC). Bcoz head motion, G-forces simulation is only useful when car interior is in the view. Above is only applicable for single screen monitor setup. My thoughts are, FOV should be maximum, but it must not distort the picture. Distortion means 'wide angle lense photography' like pictures. That factory app in AC has all those settings at one place. Firstly place your hardware monitor screen close.

[@aggressivesloth4675]

Measuring the screen size in Inches and the distance from the monitor is a nice demonstration of how messy the Brits are with measurements

[@ChrisHaye]

Yeah, I can't defend that at all! We "converted" to Metric, somewhat. But at least in this case, those were the units the FOV calculator demanded ;)

[@aggressivesloth4675]

​@@ChrisHaye We still use inches as primary measurements for monitors and laptops though. I find it easier to picture a 24 inch monitor than a 61cm monitor but that might just be because we've always used inches for monitors

[@GloveSlapnz]

same with height I know relatively how tall someone is if I'm told in feet and inches but try tell me somethings 5 miles and I'd have a hard time with it.

[@aeiouxs]

Great video Chris and love your sense of humour in your writing ;) My personal OCD is triggered when I see Barry Rowlands @ SRG with his cockpit view rolling and pitching wildly instead of staying firmly locked *cos its on a flibbin' $20,000 4DOF rig* but, hey, that's just me :'D

I do find myself compelled to tweak the FOV from car to car, for example when you get a vehicle that has a huge annoying rear view mirror that obscures half the view. I really wish that more sim racers would allow you little concessions to realism such as making the physical interior mirror invisible.

[@RACER-dz8uh]

I just line up my wheel till the round bit sits on the round bit of the dash only see rev counter in most cars and can drive fine like this as wheel displays gears. Roughly 30° fov. In ACC. And going by calculator that's what I should use. Nice.

[@TheBoostedDoge]

EVERYONE ON THE FLOOR!! Fov police coming through!

[@ericvtec-lb3mg]

Arms and wheel Disabled Option is the best setting and This what ACC & Grid Legends have on the options unlike forza Motorsport and other Fz games playing the cockpit full view with the A.i in away of your view while using your own wheel feel so arcade and when u switch to second cockpit view u lose the left-hand side mirror and u feel so close to the dash. Forza Motorsport need to added this option to feel a little bit of emersive to the game while using your own wheel.

[@yogxoth1959]

Unless you have three gigantic screens that allow you to see both side mirrors at the same time, or VR, hood view seems the most realistic to me.

[@kseverens]

I reccomend going for 50-60 (depending on the game). This for me felt most like my real life racing experiances. Of course you see less then in real life, but our eyes are not cameras. The most important thing is to have roughly the same vision when it comes to how close things are looking trough your windshield en how much you see of your wheel. It may not be 100% accurate to your real world fov, but it is the closes to real racing cars imo.. So I reccomend 50-60.

[@notdreadyet33]

FOV is simple. In ACC though, the standard Cockpit camera Distance seems to be completely random from on car to another.

[@kidShibuya]

What lab conditions? Who has actually tested this? I put the numbers in for AC with my 55inch setup and basically I have a bumper cam. Can see the tip of a steering wheel and that's it. Not sure if driving or flying.

[@PinkiesBrain]

I am one of those really struggeling with the "correct" fov.. Just taking your vid- you go 200! in it on a pretty narrow course. And it looks like 80-100 kmh. For me it takes away all the thrill from a race. And I can barely imagine this is all "correct" while I understand that it probably mathematically is- at least with the math we use for it. It kind of works if you use cars like gt3, gt4 with lots of aero. But as soon as you take a stock car it feels like skating on ice.

[@steamedyams18]

I have some issues with this. 1) You're saying the right FOV setting balances your real world perspective with the screen and game space, which is all well and good, but your camera position is placed where the driver model's head is which means your perspective isn't actually where it should be since you already have your real arms and wheel right in front of you and yet you're seeing another pair of arms and a wheel, which adds too much distance from where the real world view should transition to the in-game one. Your camera position should be forward enough that the in-game wheel overlaps your real wheel. 2) In regards to a high FOV: it's not just about the sense of speed, but also of depth perception. When the FOV is low, everything looks big and easy to see on screen but then it also looks like it's squished narrowly onto the same plane. With a higher FOV, things that are far away look obviously smaller than things up close. This massively improved my braking and steering control, leading to faster laps, so your claim that this is just a crutch that doesn't make a difference is false. What works for you won't necessarily work for someone else and vice versa. No one should be discouraged from trying this out if it actually ends up helping them.

[@Vip-np8op]

Please everyone……Pay attention to his first point. You must consider the wheel position in game to your actual wheel position. They must overlap for your FOV to be correct. The calculators don’t take this into consideration. Try this, measure the eye distance to your screen and the eye distance to your wheel. Add them together and try the calculator again. In game move the wheel trying to overlap with yours, adjust the height and pitch and see if that seems better.

[@alec7568]

Here's a suggestion for a discussion video like this: assists, how they work and how using them or not will effect your experience in different cars and tracks. Everyone seems to have this eletist opinion of you have to always have the assists turned off to be fast but that just makes no sense to me. I find I'll always be faster in a car with abs turned on as apposed to turning it off. I do however enjoy driving with what you would call factory settings, if a car doesn't have TC or abs in real life I won't use it in a sim. I do still tend to drive with TC turned off universally because I do enjoy the slight challenge of throttle control.

[@rarewhiteape]

All the fast guys in GT Sport use the highest ABS setting possible. For them it is not about how fast you are but what tools you have at your disposal to beat the other guy. But the other guy is using it too and then it comes back to how fast you are!

[@alec7568]

@@rarewhiteape I couldn't agree more. I also just find that I don't enjoy driving without abs unless the car actually doesn't have abs in real life. I'm not the fastest guy around so for me the biggest part of the experience is enjoying myself. Speed will come with that as I go.

[@krzysztofm484]

Well done vid. Sad thou, that some people dont get it and argue.

[@ryz3n_]

so i have a 19 inch monitor how much should my fov be?

[@MendicantBias1]

The human eye is only capable of seeing 30 FOV anyway

[@xXExtremeGameXx]

Another great vid Chris. Can't believe your having to do this. FOV is a personal preference, theres no right or wrong.

[@sergeikat01]

Hey Chris, is this still valid for VR, or do I not have to adjust for that? Thanks!

[@orlindimitrov7322]

It said I need to use some ridiculous FOV like 35 or even less, and that's while being uncomfortably close to my small monitor lll

[@thesnitch7]

try 35-40. Move the in car seat backwards so you can see more cockpit. They are two different settings. It will take 20 minutes to get used to - and then your laps times will come down.

[@husnainanwaar1992]

Just use the front wing camera less stress on the CPU and GPU . You will get higher FPS

[@Kurvz]

Nice short sweet and to the point Chris thanks, just a question is the FOV affected when you move forward in the view settings, or should it be set just from default view. As I like what I can see in the cockpit but not sure about my FOV will check tomorrow thank again keep up the good work

[@zerofox975]

Moving your seating position does not affect the FOV, they are separate from each other.

[@thesnitch7]

@@zerofox975 This

[@Omahamaho]

3:32 I knew you loved Wip3out

[@George4ski]

Very well explained :) What’s the track name mate?

[@DekkerDave]

I play on a 27" single screen, sitting about 110 cm from it and my FOV recommends are 30-35° and I just can't get used to it :(

[@nivracer]

Just give it a lot of time. I play on about 35-40 on my 15in laptop. Using a more correct fov helped me move from hood view to cockpit view.

[@jesuisFORTIO]

i went from 50 to 30 and after 3 hours i was improving my lap times.

[@GregzVR]

It matters even _more_ in VR, with some headset having 90deg, and others having 180 deg FOV.

[@welshy4638]

It doesn't matter at all as the FOV is set automatically for VR irrespective of what headset you are using.

[@GregzVR]

welshy 46 - I’m not referring to the in-game FOV settings, I’m referring to to the actual varied hardware FOV of the headsets themselves. ;-)

[@welshy4638]

@@GregzVR Which has no bearing on the context laid out in this video which is dealing with FOV for monitor users.

[@nakazonegamestreaming896]

The best FOV is the one one feels more confortable with, you can find it after changing only a million times.

[@MajorWolf72]

You could have shown a few crass examples from posts on the net, people driving from their back seat basically, because that is what I see as the most common mistake out there. And some are like „but when I was 3 my mom told me I would get eye cancer if I was so close to a screen...“ Yeah, right, like getting cancer from wind mills, I guess... 😂 Some very Pro racers drive „off-FOV“, take Max Bennecke for example with 35 degrees side monitor angles. Me, I‘m on 180 degree FOV at 60 degrees side angles on my triple so far and for the time being it suits me well. But who can say how I feel in a year or two... So, true: It IS personal preference, BUT there are seriously wrong setups out there as well. So all in all a video needed very much! Best, FOV Police 👋🏻😜

[@OffTheBreakPB]

Great video Chris! What about VR and FOV/positioning?

[@whysoslow1999]

VR fov is always perfect. Then you just set your ingame seating position so that it looks comfy. So ingame wheel not too far or too close. You can even go as far as to copy your real seating position, using the headset as measurement kind of.

[@OffTheBreakPB]

@@whysoslow1999 Thanks for the reply. I've been struggling with the seating position. The height and distance don't quite seem right sometimes depending on the car and game. Dirt especially, I find it hard to get setup

[@DKSimulationGaming]

Great video 👍, does moving the seat position forward or back affect the FOV?

[@HerjungleBarou]

Could you do a guide on battling? Etiquette, how to properly pass, how to defend, etc? Thank you

[@sunny113866]

Friggen great vid

[@jasperherridge3168]

The only time I've changed the FOV is on the F1 game, where I've maxed it out so I can see the mirrors while racing offline in cockpit cam

[@LarryLinton]

Makes a huge difference using the correct calculations but you must have the screen a minimum of 500mm away from you . With a single screen too far away and its never feels right . I have a 46" single and mounted it on the wall 1300mm away and with correct FOV (46°) in iracing it wasn't quite right but would of been correct for triples . Moved it to 750mm away and it gave me 68° FOV which transformed my racing. Can drive around hard and consistent within a 10th and can race close with other cars with confidence. You have to get this right before anything else, you can have 10 grands worth of equipment but with the wrong FOV you will never reach your true simracing potential.

[@jesse1086]

I have a different fov for like every car. I feel like this is probably a bad thing -__- but they are all different! Heck I can't even. Decide between a dash cam and a pilot cam half the time.