Driving views

[Terry Rock]

I like the direction AMS2 is headed....think the devs are more than up for the challenge.
Given that it is still very, very early....
How many of you would like to see a few more cockpit views?
I for one, am having a very difficult time with ALL cockpit views, unless I am driving on a straight.
The minute a corner comes up I lose the visual reference to the apex.
The 'A' Pillar is obscuring my view in just about every tin-top in the sim.
I've tried different FOV, manually moving the seat, different cameras, etc... Nothing helps.
I can't seem to get a good view, unless I use the outside road view.
This is really something they need to copy ACC on.
The instrument facia view to the outside World in that sim, is second to none.

 

[Case_]

The 'A' Pillar is obscuring my view in just about every tin-top in the sim.
I've tried different FOV, manually moving the seat, different cameras, etc... Nothing helps.

Well, it's a simulator, so it simulates. The dashboard view in ACC might be practical, but it's also not exactly realistic. Real life drivers don't exactly have great view either. They sit very low in the car, often quite far in the back, there's the helmet, there are head supports on the side of the seat limiting the view to the side, they can barely move their head...

With proper FOV, the need to see apex should be noticeably reduced, because you should be able to "feel" where it is.

(I'm not saying it's bad to have more options, just pointing out that it's fairly realistic to not have a great view from the cars.)

 

[UMC 22]

Real drivers retain the ability to move their heads, enabling them to counter most of those issues to a large extent. That's something those not using VR or TrackIR (or an equivalent) can't do, so an option for a more optimal static view would definitely be a good addition for monitor users.

Is the look-to-apex feature any good in AMS 2? I remember putting that to good use back in my Race 07 days but not in any sim since, and now I'm in VR. Might only work in helmet cam though, which is undesirable since it has a performance impact.

 

[Terry Rock]

Well, it's a simulator, so it simulates. The dashboard view in ACC might be practical, but it's also not exactly realistic. Real life drivers don't exactly have great view either. They sit very low in the car, often quite far in the back, there's the helmet, there are head supports on the side of the seat limiting the view to the side, they can barely move their head...

With proper FOV, the need to see apex should be noticeably reduced, because you should be able to "feel" where it is.

(I'm not saying it's bad to have more options, just pointing out that it's fairly realistic to not have a great view from the cars.)

As Goffik has already pointed out, there has to be some concession to allow for the fact that we are not sitting in a tub looking out an actual windshield.
Triple screen and VR user would quickly overcome the issue, since they can lean and look.
The human eyes and brain are amazing pieces of equipment.
As with talk initially about F1's Halo and it's ability to obstruct forward and side view...notice how fast that talk disappeared?
Even the severely obstructed 'A' pillar view in the Porsche 919 can be worked around by the human eye.

 

[Case_]

Good luck turning your head to any significant amount with a HANS device.

 

[dajdosta]

Good luck racing in a real car with no windows except for a 1m wide and 0.5 m high windshield.

 

[Alex Townsend]

Triple screens do help with this, a lot. I guess VR would have a similar and more immersive effect.
I never really thought about it before i got the triples but you can just glance to the left or right, just like in real life albeit without a helmet and hans

 

[BillGuy]

Drive the Ginetta prototype for a few laps. You’ll feel much better about the view from your tin-tops after that.

 

[dwightyone]

Triple screens do help with this, a lot. I guess VR would have a similar and more immersive effect.
I never really thought about it before i got the triples but you can just glance to the left or right, just like in real life albeit without a helmet and hans

Done my time with VR - heat, sweat, eye strain, a gadget strapped to my head - it's good but not great imo so recently I bought Triple Screens and wow, really wow - it's worth the swap for the crystal clear visuals alone.

 

[Deleted member 197115]

I like the direction AMS2 is headed....think the devs are more than up for the challenge.
Given that it is still very, very early....
How many of you would like to see a few more cockpit views?
I for one, am having a very difficult time with ALL cockpit views, unless I am driving on a straight.
The minute a corner comes up I lose the visual reference to the apex.
The 'A' Pillar is obscuring my view in just about every tin-top in the sim.
I've tried different FOV, manually moving the seat, different cameras, etc... Nothing helps.
I can't seem to get a good view, unless I use the outside road view.
This is really something they need to copy ACC on.
The instrument facia view to the outside World in that sim, is second to none.

Dashboard view like ACC would be nice for single screeners.

 

[Terry Rock]

Good luck turning your head to any significant amount with a HANS device.

Sure, the HANS device restricts the movement of your head...but the human eye take in way more information than any camera ever produced.
The view forward is almost limitless.
Heck!...even those behind, are better with the eye's ability.
It can garner more points of reference and data in those rearview mirrors then even the most sophisticated of equipment.
Hans for the most part, limit side views.
That is only because to the 'hard' restraint it puts on a driver's ability to increase the peripheral angle.

 

[Alex Townsend]

Most of the time you look with your eyes, I remember them saying that Hulkenburg glanced with his eyes in a split second leaving the pits in an F1 car to check if anything was coming from behind.
Granted he probably had an engineer telling him he was clear but I guess its the natural thing you pick up from racing, in karting it's a full on lunge of your head over your shoulder to check when leaving the pits... lol

 

[dajdosta]

Exactly.
Even with completely fixed head using only eye movement there is at least 180 FOV in real life.
And the head turning is no longer restricted with the newer Hans devices.

Therefore anything less than 180 FOV without distortion is not realistic.
It is not possible with single screen so any help from a sim is appreciated, like that dashboard view.
But still single screen users are in big disadvantage compared to real drivers.

 

[b)b]

Also annoyed by some cockpit elements making viewing the actual track a tad more difficult (using a single monitor and standard cockpit view).
Be it wipers, internal mirrors, windshield stickers, button boxes (Stock car), Halo....
I kind of address this with a combination of using the proper FOV for my monitor and distance to it (or a slightly higher) and pushing the seat a tad forward and usually up, to unclutter the view. But this is less than ideal on tracks with lots of pronounced curves or hairpins, where it is difficult to see apexes. Then there's Helmet view and its look-to-apex feature that could help but I find it disorienting so not using it.
I would really really appreciate if all the annoying cockpit elements mentionned could be individually turned off. Let's not pretend seeing a track through a 27" monitor at 60cm in front of you exactly mirrors (pun intended) reality...
And I will always wonder who thought it was a good idea to design racing cars with the wipers resting in the middle of the windshield rather than on the sides, where you know, they do not obscure the view.

 

[Terry Rock]

Sadly, I seem to be only using open-wheeled cars in this simulation now.
Hopefully, more views are coming...sooner rather than later.
It is almost impossible to drive anything with a roof as it stands now.
I can drive from the bumper view but then I lose the 'joy' of the cockpit sound and the additional information.