[/SIZE]That's an awesome view of the Eiger through the cockpit view of the Ferrari! BUT . . . but . . . I gotta be the fly in the ointment about these arguments for a cockpit view . . . Personally I don't like them. The feeling, the overall view is much too confining, like being in an M1 Tank instead of a car. When I'm racing, wether it's GT4 or ToCA 3, I want to concentrate on the race and as good as these games are--or will be in regards to GT HD and GT5 respectively--they can't simulate everything. Well, what the hell is Thundercat ranting about . . . I'll explain.
My gameroom television is 27 inches, while the windshield of my realcar, a Nissan Altima, is more than twice that size. Through my peripheral vision I can see out of the left side door window and a little out of the right side door window. A minute shifting of my vision and I can get a better view out of those left and right door windows without turning my head. When I'm playing GT4, sitting about 3 feet from the television, my peripheral vision picks up my stereo, my front speakers, a few books, the door to the gameroom, etc. . . When I'm in my real car I can see a lot more of the road, alot more of the outside environment than I can when I'm playing GT4. When you include a cockpit the already limited view is limited further, more of what you should see is taken away outright.
In game, when I want to look left or right to see who's racing beside me I have to push a button on my DFP and have the view on the television screen jar to the left or right. This is what I mean by not being able to simulate everything--in reallife the entire landscape out of your front window doesn't shift over like that--if it does, you've been drinking and should probably pull over before you kill somebody!
The best way around this would be to get a 54 inch television for my forward view and two 19 inch monitors for my left and right views! I've seen a picture somewhere where someone is playing GT4 with three monitors in the same configuration. With this set-up I wouldn't mind a cockpit view so much!
If cockpit view became an option, I'd just toggle 'traditional game-view', then get rid of the track map and shift indicator and be on my merry way.
Once again, in closing, that view of the Eiger and the interior of the Ferrari is truly inspiring, but during a 2 hour endurance race with 20 other cars on the circuit, not to mention the potential of sustaining damage--I'm not gonna pay attention to beauty and inspiration, I'm gonna try to win.