I use the one monitor and 115 feels fine

Is it good that my FOV is higher that average?

85 degrees on a 22" widescreen monitor. Any less than that and I have problems judging speeds.

Quote from SparkyDave :

this forced cockpit veiw option this months LX compo servers are using , has encouraged me to use the cp view more often, and after a little while when I get in the zone I don't even notice what view I'm in my cp times are improving

I thought you always used cockpit?

Is this why I've been easily quicker than you so far in the autocross compo? I thought maybe you had a broken arm or something!

Quote from thisnameistaken :

85 degrees on a 22" widescreen monitor. Any less than that and I have problems judging speeds.

But you'll find yourself better at catching slides.

Its a tradeoff between sensing lateral movement (low FOV) and longitudinal movement (high FOV) really. For me (on my 24" widescreen) the sweet spot is around 65-70 degrees. I knocked a few tenths off my time compared to the default 90 degrees almost immediately.

Is the idea of the FOV view setting that you should measure the angle between your eyes and the edges of the screen and use that to make it realistic?

This way the closer to the monitor(s) you are, and the wider your monitor(s), the more FOV you should use. Is this right?

Quote from morcs :

Is the idea of the FOV view setting that you should measure the angle between your eyes and the edges of the screen and use that to make it realistic?
This way the closer to the monitor(s) you are, and the wider your monitor(s), the more FOV you should use. Is this right?

Yes, you could calculate the realistic FOV like that. But you would need a huge monitor or sit really close to have an reasonable FOV. A monitor is really a too small window to be looking in to a game
So in conclusion it's better to use bigger FOV than the 1:1 real world value.

I understand Also if you were going for that type of realistic view, you wouldn't use cockpit view (unless you had a giant screen right in front of you like this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbCI7FB2E3U). You'd probably position the virtual camera on top of the dashboard or bonnet depending on how far you sat away from the screen, effectively making your desk the dashboard. Like you say this would be like looking through a small rectangle in your windscreen and you'd have terrible peripheral vision.

Quote from morcs :

I understand Also if you were going for that type of realistic view, you wouldn't use cockpit view (unless you had a giant screen right in front of you like this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbCI7FB2E3U). You'd probably position the virtual camera on top of the dashboard or bonnet depending on how far you sat away from the screen, effectively making your desk the dashboard. Like you say this would be like looking through a small rectangle in your windscreen and you'd have terrible peripheral vision.

Tis what I try to do, only I have to have the gauges shown because I don't have external gauges. Thus my 50-60 FOV. I just can't stand that stretched out look to higher FOV's. Peripheral vision? I look left/right often, very often. All it takes is one look and with track awareness, you shouldn't need peripheral vision. You should know they are still there and don't need to look again until you think you are past them, or you see that they have passed you.

Quote from mrodgers :

You should know they are still there and don't need to look again until you think you are past them, or you see that they have passed you.

It's nice to have that peripheral vision though for sense of speed and judgement of braking points when your main focus is through the corner. It's not necessary, but I'm sure alot of people prefer the "feel" of this?

FOV is a very interesting subject. I found several studies about it, measuring performance of pilots/drivers/workers in simulators depending of FOV.

As usual, this is a compromise. Too high FOV causes heavy distorsion. Too low FOV causes a loss of spatial representation (position and speed). According to studies I read, FOV under 60 degrees becomes a disadvantage, and FOV over 140 degrees does not bring any advantage.


With a 17 inchs display, I tried several FOV values, and every time, I asked someone not familiar with video games to tell me what is the car speed.
115 degrees gave the best result for sense of speed.

Then I tested spatial representation (distance). I drive until the car is at the same level than a turn sign, and I ask how far is the next turn sign (turn signs for the reverse track, so figure is not visible). 115 degrees gave good results too. 50m look like 50m.

But you have to get used to distorsion.

Edit: There is somewhere a nice study of FOV effects on a driving simulator. They use a driving simulator with the exact simulation of a real road, and they compare difference between speeds (cornering, straight) and position on track between the real driving and the simulator with various FOV.
Result: with low FOV (50), people are slower in turns and faster in straight line than IRL. And they are placed differently on the track. And if the FOV increases, speed and position in simulator becomes closer from real driving.

I'm using 98 degrees + wide screen effect which covers top and bottom parts of the screen (the arms are not looking as long and unnatural as without it).

Dangit, now that i've read this thread, i've started toying with my FOV, and can't seem to get it just right.

Using the default, I seem to have a hard time seeing cars to my left and right, and the mirrors and gauges just don't work out as well as with a lower FOV.

If I bump it up though, everything just looks WONKY. If I lower it though, I really can't see SHIT.

I'm used to barely ever using the look left right buttons. I'm thinking maybe I should just set it lower, and train myself to get used to using the buttons?

Dammit, any advice?

EDIT: HOLY CRAP! I just tried a FOV of around 49, and in three laps time I managed to beat my personal best on FE Gold in the FOX by around .2 seconds!

It's really uncomfortable though . It looks great, but it's hard to see what's going on, and it feels like you're going so damn slow.

I have toyed with this setting since i started out with gpl, i made my first improvements there when i changed the fov down to about 65° which is still a compromise for a realistic view on my 19" display.
Since then i always use 65° in every sim.
I noticed i had a better judgement for braking points and apexes which helped me improve my times, you get used to the sense of speed after some time, and the awareness around you. I use more audio inputs to judge where other cars are, and in lfs there is the great feature that you can tune where and how fast the view changes, so its not really an issue.

I did the opposite last night and tried to increase my FOV. I changed it from 60 to the 115 that I saw Juls discuss. I was in the LX4. WOW! How in the world do you drive with a 100 meter long cockpit? LOL. To me, the sense of speed at higher FOV is overwhelming. Felt like I was moving 1000 mph. I couldn't even see the corners coming up because it was so far away and so tiny. How on earth can anyone drive like that? I've played around in the beginning of racing LFS with the default 90, but quickly changed to 60 way back then. I've never actually driven with higher than 90 until now.

I want a natural look, not something to see out my peripheral vision with compromising on that natural look. I want it to feel like I'm actually driving a car. To make it natural, you need to imagine looking out the windshield through a space the size of your monitor (compromising on being able to see the gauges). It matters not to me if I can see my side mirrors, I have a center mirror that dispays the same thing. And like I said, I use the left/right look very often and have the awareness that once I see a car beside me, I can judge if they are still beside me or not.

Of course, about compromising to see the gauges, I can't see them past my wheel mounted on my desk anyways. I don't think I ever really look at them other than to check my speed coming down the straights when I don't have to be looking at apex exit or concentrating on apex when I'm braking. So, it doesn't really matter if I can see my gauges I guess.

I dont see what all the fuss is I use 115 FOV and its fine. I dont feel like I'm going a millions miles an hour, or all the other things.

I guess I must be just used to it. I own you all

lol, you sexy beast... NEVA!!!!!!!!!!!

I use 126deg over 3 screens, but i used 80 when i was on 1 screen.

Thanks for all the replies guys, ive decided to use 90-99 , and sometimes 60 or 80

I just adjust the view until I see my side mirror fully (usually between 80-90)

Quote from The General Lee :

I dont see what all the fuss is I use 115 FOV and its fine. I dont feel like I'm going a millions miles an hour, or all the other things.

I guess I must be just used to it. I own you all

Oh my word, what the heck is that way up there? Wait, let me get my binoculars.... OH! It's my dashboard!!!



Ah ha! I knew I took pictures at one time comparing LFS and driving IRL. This is a picture of my desk with only the computer screen in focus. The next picture is from the drivers seat of my truck (pic was unrelated. I was taking a pic of the moron in front of me with his truck full of junk.) Unfortunately, the real pic is off-center of true driving position, but you can see how the steering wheel on my desk compares with the steering wheel in the truck (imagine the camera moved over so it's centered). In the real truck, had the camera been centered with the driver's head (me), you would see a view very comparable to my LFS view. The a-pillar would be roughly in the same spot as LFS's is on the display. The main difference is the gauge position, as I have LFS set to just see the gauges on the screen. (Please disregard the fingerprints all over the display from a little cute blonde 4 (at the time) year old. She's just too darn adorable to discipline for smudging up the display)

Quote from NitroNitrous :

I just adjust the view until I see my side mirror fully (usually between 80-90)

I always thought FOV should be adjusted to the things far away, and seat position fore/aft adjusted to the cockpit/gauges/mirrors.

Suppose you hop into a narrow single seater which has mirrors close to the center, and you narrow FOV accordingly. Wouldn't that throw your sense of speed completely off, compared to, well, wider cars?

Quote from mrodgers :

*Snip*

Here is a screenie of what I see in the FOX...
http://www.lfsforum.net/attach ... id=34331&d=1184016362

I will take one in the LX6 and compare with your screenie

I use FOV of 110 on a 20", 1680X1050 monitor, and it looks right to me, any less FOV and I can't do it, and any more looks wrong (I used to use 120 and that was too small at a 2560X1024 resolution).

I run a 17" monitor at 1280x960.

Quote from The General Lee :

Here is a screenie of what I see in the FOX...
http://www.lfsforum.net/attach ... id=34331&d=1184016362

I will take one in the LX6 and compare with your screenie

Here we go...

16:10 monitor and I use 100 degree FOV. I find any less and I can't see enough of the track - and any more and I lose so much of the sense of speed I start misjudging corners and rear-ending people. Which I'm sure you'll agree is A Bad Thing.