Cockpit view - IMHO overated and not so useful...

[GTP_FastM3]

I like to use the zoomed cockpit view when I can, but it bugs me that it cuts off a large chunk of the rearview mirror. A zoomed out cockpit doesn't seem real, because way too much of my vision is taken up by the cockpit. Is there a way to get the zoomed in cockpit and still keep the rearview mirror?

 

[Relinquish8t]

i use cockpit exclusivly on A-spec and practrise mode but online its all hood view just for the winning advantage... but offline i love the immersive feeling and the AI is no challenge so why not?

 

[kinet1c]

i use the bumper view for every car but for the f1 i use cockpit.

 

[Destinkeys]

I think the thing all the cockpit fans are missing is that, while the view might be photo realistic, it ISN'T what your brain 'sees'.

Ever notice that a photo of something isn't what you remember seeing? Ever wonder why a home movie doesn't quite seem to show what you remembered seeing? Ever make a recording through a good quality mike, and STILL have to wonder why it sounds so different from what you hear?

That is because the brain INTERPRETS everything you see and hear and feel, and processes it into one big gestalt, and there's no way a simple 2D picture on a screen is going to simulate that. For one thing, there is no screen big enough (at least, few of us could afford it if there was) to show the entire width of vision that you can get without moving your head at all. And the eye can move VERY rapidly from side to side and build up quite a comprehensive picture of what is going on around you without disturbing your focus on the center of your field of view. That you can't see the entire width of the windshield in cockpit view is one HUGE strike against it if you are going for 'realism'. Sorry guys. That's just the way it is. Get in your car, and note what you can see without moving your head. QED.

Bumper cam (or hood cam without the hood, if you prefer) is by far the more realistic interpretation of what your brain SEES. Start driving your car. Now try to think about what you are ACTUALLY looking at. It ain't the dash. It ain't the pillars. It ain't the stitching on the wheel. IT IS THE ROAD (or at least, I sure hope it is!). You have to take your attention and focus OFF the road to be able to see any of those things at all.

Now, if we had monitors at LEAST twice as wide as what we have now (even 16:9) then yes, POSSIBLY, cockpit view might be a reasonable interpretation of what we really see. But, until then, it is like driving with one eye closed, and a big nasty partition blocking off some of what's left.

Hood cam all the way. It's more real than anything else. Unless you are parked, and have time to look at anything BUT the road!

 

[ghsnu]

I have to agree now.

I've been running cockpit view since I got GT5...and just now switched over to chase cam yesterday (which also helps me because I drive standard cars now ).

It's nice, but not that awesome. Hard as hell to control the X1 too.

 

[Stigsblkcousin]

Cockpit view wouldn't be so bad if head tracking worked.

I'm a bumper cam kinda guy. Funny thing though, while playing GT5P, I noticed I drifted a whole lot better in cockpit view, but that was the ONLY thing I did better in cockpit view.

 

[burgermaster]

Tried hard to like it but I keep going back to the much more useful bumper view.

So I cannot understand all the premium/standard, cockpit/no cockpit, HUD/no HUD discussions.

Let me explain:

"theoretically" your cockpit is your own steering wheel and the chair in your living room (or whatever place you are), and your TV is like the windscreen.
If we agree to this then you do not need to see the cockpit of the car in game as well. This would be like looking inside the cockpit through another cockpit..
Positioning-wise the inside cockpit view would only make sense in theory if you could bring the TV 20 cm from your eyes and your actual steering wheel behind the tv!!! This way you would see the driver's arms without seeing yours.

Yes the dials and the cockpit details and the bell & whistles are nice (and many prefer to see all this stuff), but at the end of the day the driving matters and I bet NO ONE can drive better from the cockpit view when comparing to the bumper view.

Anyone feels like this or am I the only one??

Now flame me as much as you like you cockpit-view lovers!!!

I agree 100%👍

 

[JonnyBigBoss]

Hey, I love the cockpits! It's so much fun driving inside of a McLaren or Zonda, and they're gorgeous!

 

[Stiggles]

I love cockpit view but I just can't use it. Every time I try, I last around 15 minutes before I have to walk away from the screen and recover from the feeling of nausea. When I watch my friend drive, he uses cockpit view, I have to close my eyes pretty often to stop my eyes from hurting. I understand that in real life the car does shake that much inside, but in real life you tend to dampen out the shake with your body. I've never gotten sick as a codriver on a rally in real life (on some really rough roads), but there's just something about the shaking in GT5 that doesn't sit well with me.

On a lot of pages of this thread there's at least one person complaining about cockpit view being vomit-inducing. It'd be interesting to see just what percentage of the players actually get the same symptoms.

 

[Uxi]

Too much real-estate is taken up by cockpit view, but I do generally try to use it. If it's a really serious race, though I'm all about the bumper cam

 

[Grimmeh]

I can’t stand using Standard cars because they don’t have Cockpit views. I like the Cockpit, with the only limitation being my lack of a Playstation Eye, but I also lack a wheel and pedals to suit the realistic physics, but I make do.

 

[mini_roofer_S]

I never cared for cockpit view until GT5. Now thats all I use. I hate the bumper cam though, always have. It feel like your car is gliding through the track, plus I like to actually SEE part of the car I'm driving, otherwise it just feels like I could be driving any other car.

 

[bigmarv69]

I was a bumper cam guy for the last 10 or so years, yes I'm an old man, but since GT5 i've been using the cockpit view and i'm loving it. I seem to be able to drive alot faster into and from corners. I think it comes down to not jamming the steering stick(controller) left and right, being able to turn the wheel only as much as you need and not pushing the car into understeering/oversteering, little bit more difficult online with the view though.

 

[venth85]

I rarely use cockpit view, bumper cam is my fave, but for car like FGT i have to use the top view, so my view doesnt get shifted during braking. Tried cockpit on my GT by Citroen, I hardly can see the road D:

 

[Tommy_861]

I love cockpit view but I just can't use it. Every time I try, I last around 15 minutes before I have to walk away from the screen and recover from the feeling of nausea. When I watch my friend drive, he uses cockpit view, I have to close my eyes pretty often to stop my eyes from hurting. I understand that in real life the car does shake that much inside, but in real life you tend to dampen out the shake with your body. I've never gotten sick as a codriver on a rally in real life (on some really rough roads), but there's just something about the shaking in GT5 that doesn't sit well with me.

On a lot of pages of this thread there's at least one person complaining about cockpit view being vomit-inducing. It'd be interesting to see just what percentage of the players actually get the same symptoms.

Yep thats me and from what I recall this makes 3 of us. That shaking absolutely makes me sick.

 

[Darkside_0]

Well there's no bumper cam in real life when your racing. I prefer the cockpit personally. I run better times. Bumper cam makes the car feel sloppy to me.

 

[ninhasso]

While playing seriously, bumper view + controller
While playing for fun, Cockpit view + no HUD + screen a LOT closer + wheel

feels a lot more realistic

 

[Zoom!Zoom!]

Cockpit will be more useful if you had triple screen or head tracking. Bumper cam does give you a better sense of speed.
I use cockpit more when I'm using my DFGT wheel since I can quickly use the D-pad to look around.

 

[Earth]

Bumper cam (or hood cam without the hood, if you prefer) is by far the more realistic interpretation of what your brain SEES.

Yeah right. My brain sees most of this room but FOCUSES on the monitor. Simply removing any obstruction your brain may ignore in real life is cheap. Do I notice anymore then a 16x9 field of vision ahead of me? No. Try looking around. Your eyes may see ALOT but how MUCH are you really FOCUSED on? Do you need to have 180 degree vision in GT5 to hit the apex? No.

I used cockpit view for GT5p but not GT5

They've added brutal camera shake to the cockpit and with rain drops you are at an even larger disadvantage to bumper/roof cam guys.

I wish all cars were premium so we could force cockpit view

 

[nikhil]

I use the cockpit view everywhere except on Nordschlief (sp?). The road is so narrow and bumpy that I just can't judge the edge of the track in the cockpit, so I use bumper cam there.

 

[Bigbazz]

Since i bought a wheel i have always used the cockpit view, though at nurburgring the bonnet/roof view can be a big advantage as it allows you to see the apex of the corner much easier.

 

[mani_23]

Its no denying that I can get slightly better times with the bumper cam, but The cockpit is just so much more enjoyable, and In the end It just comes down to fun. I enjoy it more in the cockpit. Since Im not looking anywhere near my steering wheel (Instead directly at the tv) while im driving, I do consider the cockpit on the screen 'my' cockpit. Just about the experience, and in terms of realism, I guess you cant deny that a cockpit camera is more realistic then a bumper cam.

Every camera has its own strengths.

 

[GooN3r]

Reading this thread it would appear bumper cam is the view of choice, I must admit I haven't tried it yet, I have been using the (not sure of its official title) track cam which just shows the rev/speed dials. Think I will give the bumper cam a try.

I agree that the cockpit view looks great but ultimately restricts your view.

 

[MARC BOLAN]

I think brfore discussing this topic,we must lock up what
Kind of value we want to take.if a player just want to hit the
Limit of lap time, just take any cam view that can
Let u made it.but for me,hook on GT,
hit fastest lap time must base on a limit environment,one of that is the
Cockpit view.whatever u say how the cockpit view can't
provide a realistic factor about real driving experience,
But I can't imagine how I can drive a car from outside
will get more realistic than in cockpit.
Or Change the title to"real RC simulator"?

 

[machschnel]

 

[spunwicked]

I think the idea is to use your imagination and be immersed to the point where you forget that you are holding onto a DFGT and you may as well be holding the steering wheel on the car on the screen.

I never look at at my DS3 while playing a 3rd person shooter and complain I can see the character I'm controlling.

 

[Shrimp]

Lulz.


It's quite unfortunate that more attention to detail wasn't paid to the actual functionality of cockpits. Having a 2000 polygon gearstick seems to not matter so much when you can race a 24 hour race and the clock never changes, or the temperature is the same on every track in every weather condition.

It's a very small thing, but something I appreciated in the FM3 (oh no I didn't!) cockpits.

 

[TheTechnobear]

Wow, amazing how much debate is here... some of it quite interesting.

I wish we could ditch the term "bumper cam" , it's not, it's cockpit view without the cockpit layer.
It would be nice if we could have bonnet cam, which is again same view but with a bonnet layer added, this would give a bit of spatial awareness.

I suppose i could achieve much the same by cover up bottom 1/3 of my screen and move by rig closer

Personally I use both views, as I enjoy both for different reasons...

Cockpit I enjoy the context provided, without cockpit , I like the fuller view.

I've raced (iRL) for years, which is more realistic?
Neither, and there isn't a game which is, there are so many other sensory inputs when racing, seeing the dash or not, is something you are just not aware of ... you are totally focused on the track, and how the car feels.
(one small exception, in the rain, when my visor gets misted up before the race starts ... then I'm very aware of my 'viewport' on the world )


So enjoy, whatever feels right... Is right...

 

[MARC BOLAN]

The bumper view not a car hidden cockpit view,cam position and focus distance are totally different.

 

[TagCloud]

I use to use bumper cam all the time, but now with the no HUD option I use the cockpit view. I like it a lot more this way. Mainly because I can now get rid of the annoying red flashing downshift indicator. If I could use the bumper cam with only tach and speedo and nothing else then I would do that instead. But yeah, my mine gripe is I hate the downshift indicator more then anything! Just messes up your brake timing because I find myself relying on that way to much.

Completely agree about the downshift indicator, I never quite seem to be able to ignore it for some reason... I prefer cockpit view for reasons of immersion myself, but turning off the HUD didn't quite work for me, as I find the instruments become too small and quite a pain to read that way (even when playing on a 40" HDTV, playing about 4'-5' from the screen). It's way harder than if you'd actually sit in the driver's seat and play, so the HUD makes more sense for an actual player to use. However, I do wish that just the downshift indicator could be turned off.

I've considered switching to bumper cam on all cars for consistency purposes (I use standards/premiums roughly 50/50), but the problem I have with the bumper cam is that I never know exactly how far my car is located from other objects - other cars or various walls or others objects on a track. On the Top Gear test track, the Bentley (corner just before the wide runway straight) can often be a problem because of this. Sometimes my car ends up being on the right of the track, and it's hard to know if my car is so far to the right that it'll crash into the tyres when coming into the corner. Same with starting grids in general, as navigating through other cars I find way easier using the cockpit view. I could use the roof camera on all cars as well, but that view just feels way unnatural to me.