FOV Calculators cant be right

[Thapelo]

There is something that has been bothering me for a while, ive read up on FOV in lots of articles and watched some youtube videos too. The premise is that an FOV calculation is suppose to set it up so that what you see on your monitor reflects a true 1:1 with the real world. I have a single 27" monitor and sitting (eye to center of monitor) 24 inches from the monitor which gives me a vFOV of 31 degrees. The monitor sits right behind my wheel so I have setup the virtual seating position to reflect this, so the cars dials look like they would look if they were right behind my logitech wheel. But the problem is this. The dashboard looks great but the virtual world is way too small to be 1:1. For example I've risked looking like a fool in traffic and held out my hands behind my steering wheel about the width of a 27 inch monitor and in traffic. When parked behind another car in the real world it totally fills that width of my hands, accounting for my cars bonnet/hood and that the car is a meter away from the bonnet. When parked behind a virtual car in my sim it does not fill the width of the monitor at the suggested 31 degrees. Neither does the pit "lollipop" man in assetto corsa on the nordschleife pits. Only if i drop my fov some 5-10 degrees do objects start to fill my monitor the way they would in real life. What is causing this, am I doing something wrong? Thanks for any advice

 

[ZombieInfected]

That looks great, is this using a calculated FOV?

There's a lot of info in the comments here: (He uses 40 inch btw - sorry, memory error.)

 

[Jonas Hillert]

I had that problem too, until I switched to a TV.

I believe 6e66o uses a 50 inch here.

Georg is using a 40inch tv

 

[ZombieInfected]

Yep, just like I posted in the post above yours.

 

[Jonas Hillert]

Yep, just like I posted in the post above yours.

Yes, I saw it too late

 

[RaceWasGood]

Yep, fov-calculator gives you a good starting point, but i too tend to go up a few degrees from that. In AC i use 41 degrees on a single 40" screen that sits as close to the CSW-base as possible. My eyes is about 75cm from the screen.

 

[Emery]

In AC i use 41 degrees on a single 40" screen that sits as close to the CSW-base as possible. My eyes is about 75cm from the screen.

Size of the steering wheel base is the biggest problem to getting monitors smaller than 40" close enough to have a useful FOV when properly calculated. It's a problem even with triple 27" monitors because interior mirrors or console instruments often fall above/below the monitor [aside: 34" extra wide monitors are just 27" monitors stretched extra wide]. So... yeah, you end up fudging FOV to get a useful FOV if you don't have large monitor(s).

 

[Tberg]

Answer to the OP: well, nobody has yet pointed out that you´re not viewing your monitor(s) in 3D, and there´s a big difference in percieved size, especially width, when going to 3d. Like in VR.
Tracks that you might have driven irl also appear narrow in 2D view, whereas 3D "opens" up the track.

It´s a big difference, either using VR, and I guess nvidia 3D vision too to some extent.

 

[ZombieInfected]

Size of the steering wheel base is the biggest problem to getting monitors smaller than 40" close enough to have a useful FOV when properly calculated. It's a problem even with triple 27" monitors because interior mirrors or console instruments often fall above/below the monitor [aside: 34" extra wide monitors are just 27" monitors stretched extra wide]. So... yeah, you end up fudging FOV to get a useful FOV if you don't have large monitor(s).

Agreed. I tried using three monitors myself for a while, but changed to a 37 inch tv. It felt much more immersive because of the size feeling more "right". The instruments are placed right behind my wheel, and the placement of the sunvisor is just where it should be in a real car. (So, a bit above my head.) - And that part is not possible if you use a small screen.
I always try to get those two things right - then the rest usually is right too.

 

[P*Funk]

35 on a 22 inch screen. Apparently I'm not as debilitated as others are at this FOV.

 

[maxipolo]

I encountered a lot of difficulties to find my FOV in game.
I started Assetto at 55° and I'm now at 35 ° on a 24" screen, G27 base just in front of the screen - 70 cm eyes-screen.
The calculator told me 24° but its unplayable.

One day I will have a big screen or VR

 

[Emery]

As most of you have noted, the minimum useful vertical FOV is around 35 degrees. Now one trick if your correct FOV is down at 30 degrees is to move the seat (eyepoint) back as far as possible.

 

[P*Funk]

Yea, my ideal is apparently around 26 but that's as much to do with how far back my screen is forced to be thanks to the body of my wheel. 35 has been my compromise for 2 years and all I've had to do is learn a little to deal with hairpins.

 

[maxipolo]

35° for me is the minimal possible fov to allow me to look left / central and right mirrors when I tip to the buttons of the G27

 

[Tommi Ylén]

As most of you have noted, the minimum useful vertical FOV is around 35 degrees. Now one trick if your correct FOV is down at 30 degrees is to move the seat (eyepoint) back as far as possible.

Actually if you do that, you will see less. Because your field of view is still the same, but you only move your eyepoint, you will probably see only a few millimetres more each side and you will get the car pillars to block view. Also it makes speed immersion look so bad it feels like you are driving still. It's far better not to see the cockpit or even gauges, than vice versa. Gives more immersion to move eyepoint further and having a little wider fov than calculated.

I'm having 42° on 58" tv, maybe 1,5m between me and tv

 

[Emery]

There's no right answer as some prefer to prioritize correct FOV over other things; all I'm saying is there are workarounds when the correct FOV doesn't let you see what you desire. For myself, my feeling of immersion with triple monitors, I certainly prefer seeing the rendered gauges & mirrors rather than using videogame HUDs.

> Because your field of view is still the same, but you only move your eyepoint, you
> will probably see only a few millimetres more each side and you will get the car
> pillars to block view.

You will see more than a few millimeters... the whole instrument cluster usually pops into view where before you might be seeing only the top of the steering wheel. Same thing with the rendered rearview mirror. Yes, the pillars can block your view, just like real-life... I guess you don't like that much immersion?

 

[Tommi Ylén]

You will see more than a few millimeters... the whole instrument cluster usually pops into view where before you might be seeing only the top of the steering wheel. Same thing with the rendered rearview mirror. Yes, the pillars can block your view, just like real-life... I guess you don't like that much immersion?

I guess you understood a little wrong, I was talking about the view outside of car. Yes you can see more cockpit, but if you ever wanted realistic view this is the last thing you want to do, having narrow field of view and still see the whole cockpit. View gets so distorted, everything seems deadslow. If you are viewing real life cockpit, put a lets say 30" window there you see through, the last thing you see is some pillars blocking your view because they are far from the field of view area you are seeing. I'm not sure how I have to say this to make it understandable, I suck at explaining things

Gauges are not important, I rather see the road and elevation as they really are and get immersion of speed as correct as I can. I never look at gauges anyways. There is good alternative for gauges too, put smartphone so you can see it through your wheel and use sebastian barz's telemetry reader and hud dash as an app. You focus much more on the road so why not make it the priority on immersion

 

[ValseTriste]

Sup @s2173 I will try measure my proper seating position in my car and see if i can replicate that with the SIM. I have one other sim racing game which is automobilista (which btw has the best FFB I have ever felt, wish this FFB was in assetto) and it also uses vFOV and also suffers the same issue I am having. I wouldn't say im obsessing over it as I do enter races online at the suggested FOV, its just given what I have read on what FOV is, its bothered me that things didn't end up looking truly life size so I wondered if it was something i was doing wrong or if its a norm.

This is most probably a dead link after several years but hey Thapelo, if you're still having the same concerns I just wanted to reassure you that you are definitely not alone ! Having spent endless hours over the years trying to get a fully immersive FOV in sims I have come to the conclusion that FOV calculators are indeed off... as a simple example in PC2, having checked that the default cockpit cam eye origins are actually matched to the driver, FOV calculators suggest 58° for me (144cm horizontal screen viewed from 130cm away) but the correct angle, based again on endless hours of real life comparisons is actually perceptively most accurate at 48°. Hands up, I have no explanation for this but looking on dedicated sites like Project Immersion they also state adjusting the calculated result by 5-10° to preference ! Again, I don't know why but with sim geometry on a single flat screen, given that we see from a two point source the maths is indeed off Anyway, all the best and enjoy

 

[Kek700]

Same here, this is a good thread, never been able under any condition to solve this.
The more I try the more elusive it becomes.
I spotted a long extension applied to my steering, so copied that, the monitor now sits in front of the wheel base now, approx 15inchs from me.
To achieve this had to go 3440 x 1440, 35 inch monitor for mainly it’s size and resolution, being so close. still annoys the hell out of me.
Best I have achieved so far, that not saying much, FOV is 42.
So tempted by 49” 1440p, probably, I will still be disappointed.

 

[Mascot]

I've wasted far too much time over the years messing about with FoV and monitor positions. I mounted a 50" 4k display immediately behind my FFB wheel and did proper calculations and it still wasn't convincing.
Then I got VR and *POW*, I was suddenly actually (virtually) sitting IN the car ON the track AT the circuit with everything looking utterly convincing and 100% to the correct scale, and with the vital missing element of depth perception thanks to binocular stereoscopic vision, so that everything in the world occupies proper 3D space with distinct object separation.
Game: changed.

This message has been brought to you by the VR Appreciation Society.

 

[Kek700]

Very true, but a image quality that after the initial enjoyment of this new found perspective has worn off, irritates me more than FOV.