So i have always used cockpit cam in my sims but recently when i was struggling for pace in the Super V8 i tried nose cam and bonnet cam. Within 2 laps my times improved dramatically as i was hitting apexes so much more accurately and carrying a lot more speed. This goes against that all important immersion i enjoy in simracing but faster is faster. I did notice the wipers in Bonnet cam is blocking a lot of my vision as its locked to the middle of the screen, anyway to get rid of this? The reflections etc on the bonnet are just stunning and oddly add a bit to the immersion ive taken away popping out of cockpit cam.. Am i doing myself a disservice staying in cockpit cam or even using nose or bonnet cam? It feels wrong going against everything i believed was the right thing to do for immersion and closest to real life. Having said that i watched Lando Norris, Charles LeClerc etc race F12019 in the bonnet cam equivalent while streaming yesterday. Maybe im just over thinking
This is an interesting thread. Because of AMS2, I am now a cockpit driver predominantly, over bonnet cam, especially for the SV8s. I found the view in AMS1 and RF2 mods etc, too restrictive, but AMS2 feels just right. As for faster or not, I will have to test it out, but FOV differences make the bonnet cam feel faster and therefore more movement which can throw me off. Either way, like Shark says, do whatever gives you most enjoyment!
I think with a proper FOV (not too wide) and advancing seat position forward and up a tad, you can better hit apexes without going bonnet view.
Years ago I used to run predominantly with bonnet cam in rf1 in a league, gradually I moved to cockpit view as simply cockpits in Sims became better to look at over the years. Now in VR for the past couple of years it's 100% cockpit in absolutely everything, as above though choose what suits you best.
I've used the cockpit view since REVS in 1985 until I tried NASCAR Racing 4 when I started using hood/bonnet view for tin-tops. I find the cockpit view best for accuracy but when the door pillars and such stay in focus no matter how far ahead I look and obscure the same view however much I move my head it breaks the suspension of disbelief and makes an arcade game out of an immersive sim; authenticity over realism, perhaps. When I look out of my window I can see rabbits on the lawn but if I take a photo all I see is the net curtain. I edited the Nose and TV Cockpit cameras in AMS 1 tin-tops to have the same eyepoint as the cockpit view. I'm a little disappointed that I can't do the same here. I can't drive the F-Ultimate here (not that I want to - I'd have to change gear as many times per corner as I'm used to doing per lap) because of the halo or the F-Classic Gen3 M2 because the aerial is always in focus and takes my eye off the track. The halo was removable in AMS 1. I'd prefer a checkbox to turn off these obstructions or a slider to ghost them out to zero. In the real world they'd be out of focus and stereoscopic vision would see round them. They may be better suited to VR, which, as long as I have a wife, I'll never use.
Funnily enough, I've always used Bonnet cam since GP2 days, but in AMS2 it feels more natural for me to drive in the cockpit. I have turned off the steering wheel though, as that is normally my gripe, because I already have a real wheel and a secondary wheel on screen is really off-putting. It must have something to do with the standard FOV in AMS2? Obviously it agrees with me, with only some slight seat adjustments. I am normally slower in cockpit view, though, and this is probably still the case. Who knows, maybe I'll learn to race better with this view?
Yeah in bygone days driving in cockpit used to feel like driving with your head stuffed inside a 3 foot deep letter box with your head being at the very back of it. About 20% of screen real estate actually being the visible outside world. Totally unrealistic. But as time moved forward, cockpit views became more usable and natural and now with VR totally immersive way to play. As stated though, it was funny to see all those F1 drivers using the T-Cam in the Virtual GPrix (not that I bothered to watch too much of it). What was even funnier was when Lando Norris swapped his stream over to watch the pro esports drivers playing F1 2019 and reporting back the leading times and hearing other F1 drivers saying "How is that even possible?" LOL.
