I would just puke instantly with a low fov. Maybe with 3D vision enabled it would be okay but for me there are two things that just aren't bearable for me:
1. In reality your focus point is 20-250m away from you. Putting the Monitor 60cm away from you messes with the "real focus point" and the focus point your eyes are actually sitting at while looking at the monitor.
When the things are as big as in reality (realistic fov), it's like you would shove the 20m away kerb stones into my face.
Just doesn't work for my brain or eyes
2. without the peripheral vision of the eyes and only the view area being as big as if you'd put horse-blinders on in your real car, the movement inside of what you see is changing/moving way too quick.
I simply can't follow objects at all.
Ever tried to see asphalt/road/tarmac textures or flying by trees sharply while driving?
You can, but only if you start to focus on the object when it's a bit further away and then look at it a little moment while it's moving.
If you try to see a tree sharply when it's only 2m away, it will just swoosh by as a blurred mess.
The same happens for me with realistic fov settings. Apexes, corners, kerbs they all just swoosh by way too quickly with my eyes not being able to process it.
And as Matteo said: our brains are very complex and great. I mean, we look at a 2D monitor and are doing pretty fine judging distances etc. a little FOV distortion doesn't matter on top of this process.
Our brains are totally fine with adjusting everything into a smaller viewing area. As long as you don't go full fisheye lense style, lol.
Another point to show this:
If you ever were a bit into photography and focal lengths you will notice that wide angle lenses, like most smartphones have, are mostly fine but sometimes really really weird. (20-27mm lense)
While when changing lenses or having a zoom lense, "50mm+", will show things way more natural.
However going further and further doesn't really change anything anymore until you hit the real "zoom area" where the background will move insanely fast compared to the focused object, if you move the camera.
Example shots:
I measured the fov in degree. Only roughly but should be enough.
The camera used is a 1" sensor, I have a translation sheet to make it full-frame-equivalent. Model is a "foldable warmy"
24mm shot (heavily distorted, fov of about 90°)
View attachment 308402
60mm shot (not really distorted anymore, 50° fov)
View attachment 308404
100mm shot (is it really such a difference? I think not..., 30° fov)
View attachment 308405
The shots are only meant to show the differences in distortion. Of course I moved back between the shots to compensate the lower fov.
The moving back and forth thing is important by the way. With a very low fov you will always want to move the seat backwards to not feel crushed by the cockpit view. With a higher fov you will want to move the seat forwards to not feel like sitting in the back of the car.
For me, the "perfect" fov is where you feel comfortable while using the stock seating position. It's the real thing in most official cars.
My fov is slightly too high for this at 49° as I always move the seat a bit to the front.
However going lower hurts my eyes.. So I would need to move the monitor further away, which isn't possible for me.
My 2 cents. Let's wait for Tariq
@Celtic Pharaoh reply when you're back about what you're using nowadays