FOV / Sense of speed question.

[Mark Oates]

REMOVED

 

[Robert Bachmayer]

Damn, I love the monthly fov/sense of speed debate.....
Got all excited there for a minute.

 

[Billy Pilgrim]

Damn, I love the monthly fov/sense of speed debate.....
Got all excited there for a minute.

So what do they say about the sense of speed?

BTW, I do find that AC has not got a great sense of speed. And I've got triple screens. AMS seems to have a better sense of speed (but doesn't look as good, obviously).

 

[Turk]

If you set up the FOV properly you do pretty much lose the sense of speed. I think it's realistic though. If you set up a window of the same dimensions in your car you'd probably get the same effect.

Triple screen or VR is the only way to fix that limitation of sim racing.

 

[RMR1]

Just look at YouTube onboard shots for a few days. You will change to a mathcorrect FOV in no time
Do it!

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

REMOVED

Why did you remove your post? Seems to be a very valid question.

 

[Robert Bachmayer]

Love these threads...bump.

 

[LilSki]

I think it is just a matter of getting used to it. When I first discovered the proper FOV I thought I was going half the speed of smell. But as time went on I got used to it. Now If I set the default FOV it feels like warp speed.

I've said this before but the biggest eye opener was my first ever real track day. Doing 120MPH on track feels like no big deal when compared to 120MPH on the street. There are no power poles, picket fences, cars going opposite direction, pedestrian, etc. when on track. Everything is pretty far away from you so nothing is whizzing by your head super fast.

 

[Billy Pilgrim]

I think it is just a matter of getting used to it. When I first discovered the proper FOV I thought I was going half the speed of smell. But as time went on I got used to it. Now If I set the default FOV it feels like warp speed.

I've said this before but the biggest eye opener was my first ever real track day. Doing 120MPH on track feels like no big deal when compared to 120MPH on the street. There are no power poles, picket fences, cars going opposite direction, pedestrian, etc. when on track. Everything is pretty far away from you so nothing is whizzing by your head super fast.

I agree with you entirely. I've noticed that driving on the motorway/highway at 130km/h can seem (in certain conditions - few other cars, wide road) to be very slow. I have no track experience to draw on.

But I'm wondering why the sense of speed seems faster in AMS. And do others agree that the sense of speed is better in AMS? And recalling my time with Gran Turismo, I'm thinking maybe that seemed faster too.

 

[LilSki]

I agree with you entirely. I've noticed that driving on the motorway/highway at 130km/h can seem (in certain conditions - few other cars, wide road) to be very slow. I have no track experience to draw on.

But I'm wondering why the sense of speed seems faster in AMS. And do others agree that the sense of speed is better in AMS? And recalling my time with Gran Turismo, I'm thinking maybe that seemed faster too.

It is because they have more slight variations in there road and grass textures so it seems like things are whizzing by you.

 

[P*Funk]

What I don't understand is why a sense of speed matters. I'm not even sure what the idea of its benefit is. How exactly does it reason out that its easier to drive a race car when everything appears to be coming at you faster? That makes it harder because it objectively distorts and diminishes your window of opportunity to react.

To me the sense of speed argument is simply a misdirected attempt to rationalize why someone misses their old wider FOV. At best its an argument in favour of immersion but even then immersion being argued as coming from a flat representation of a 3 dimensional panorama distorted through a wide FOV fisheye effect is arbitrary and fallacious. Its immersive because that's what you've decided is immersive, though I'm sure this is helped along by the distorted fish eye lenses found in many onboard videos.

So what is this elusive sense of speed everyone goes on about? To me it seems like one of those things that sounds like its a sensible common sense position that falls apart when you actually scrutinize it, like a lot of folk wisdom.

 

[Billy Pilgrim]

It is because they have more slight variations in there road and grass textures so it seems like things are whizzing by you.

I've noticed that you are careful to make sure your road textures (Bridgehampton, Riverside) have variations, marks, patches etc. And I'd say that one of the benefits of your varying road textures is that the sense of speed is maximised.

 

[Billy Pilgrim]

What I don't understand is why a sense of speed matters. I'm not even sure what the idea of its benefit is. How exactly does it reason out that its easier to drive a race car when everything appears to be coming at you faster? That makes it harder because it objectively distorts and diminishes your window of opportunity to react.

To me the sense of speed argument is simply a misdirected attempt to rationalize why someone misses their old wider FOV. At best its an argument in favour of immersion but even then immersion being argued as coming from a flat representation of a 3 dimensional panorama distorted through a wide FOV fisheye effect is arbitrary and fallacious. Its immersive because that's what you've decided is immersive, though I'm sure this is helped along by the distorted fish eye lenses found in many onboard videos.

So what is this elusive sense of speed everyone goes on about? To me it seems like one of those things that sounds like its a sensible common sense position that falls apart when you actually scrutinize it, like a lot of folk wisdom.

I think it's important for, as you suggest, immersion.

Also relevant is the fact that sim racing is a simulation of driving at -let's face it- frequently terrifying speeds. The importance of maximising the sense of speed would be to make up for the fact that there's no danger/terror in sitting at home at your sim rig or whatever. Visual effects that highlight the sense of speed (and may be be slightly unrealistic) thus have the effect of making the experience more real.

 

[LilSki]

I've noticed that you are careful to make sure your road textures (Bridgehampton, Riverside) have variations, marks, patches etc. And I'd say that one of the benefits of your varying road textures is that the sense of speed is maximised.

Indeed and it is a fine line between being a nice variation and being repetitive. Nothing breaks immersion more than picking out a repeating pattern.

 

[Moxley6969]

Indeed and it is a fine line between being a nice variation and being repetitive. Nothing breaks immersion more than picking out a repeating pattern.

Except for when its "Flat as a pancake" That is a INSTANT Exit back to the menu for me.

Thanks for all you do again man, Your mesh's ROCK.

 

[P*Funk]

I think it's important for, as you suggest, immersion.

Well then for me I do not value the immersion of being a very terrified crappy driver and instead prefer the immersion of being a slightly competent half decent driver with confidence.