Hey Pepe, how ya been mayn?!
If you recall, sometime last year I posted a reply in one of the FM4 threads regarding the cam motion effects. Somebody was complaining about FOV issues, and I recommended leaving them off.
I've done a great deal of so-called experimenting over this myself. I prefer keeping them off and here's why:
* While the motion effects attempt to immerse the player more, it simple exaggerates movement by a certain degree in order to give a heightened sense of speed, inertia and g forces. You still feel all this with the setting off, but without all the additional shaking and wobbling and zoom in/out (cockpit view while accelerating and braking)
* You get a fish eye effect the faster you go; not ideal for judging corner entry speed, picking race lines and corner exit. At higher speeds, the sides of your screen will stretch out, including nearby objects and cars as if you're going into warp mode. Furthermore, even at slower speeds you get this fish eye effect as you're slowing down and trying to hit sharper apexes; the world looks stretched out around the screen's edges. Not good for cornering.
* Since cars and objects get really stretched out around you at higher speeds, this creates two problems mainly - the distances between yourself and other cars becomes difficult to judge, and, counter steering can be a real chore. The fish eye effect makes it difficult to anticipate where the wheels and nose especially is going to be since the edges are zoomed out. You'll know exactly what I mean once your tail goes out at speeds in excess of 100 mph and much higher.
* When you're cornering at high speeds in an actual car and maintaining grip/turn angle, you get this wobbly effect from the suspension which is done well with motion effects, however, there is no variation in the amount of wobble you experience irrespective of your suspension type. Yes, muscle cars and lower end sedans/hatchbacks feel more floaty like they should, but the cam movement makes it seem like their riding on well-tuned high performance springs and suspension. I can't explain it any better than that.
Now, turn it off, and immediately you'll see improvements in your sim experience:
* The zoom out fish eye effect is practically gone as you move at higher speeds. You can judge corners much better as apexes and entry/exit points are better visible.
* In the dash view you can better experience what the suspension is doing, since the added wobbling, shaking and zoom in/out is gone.
* You can judge almost exactly how far away you are from cars around you since the FOV isn't stretched out around the edges or zoomed out at higher speeds.
* Try kicking your tail out and maintaining a slide. You can better see the corners and edges of your screen as your tail slides past 45 degrees. Just give it a shot, you'll know exactly what I mean. No better way to explain!
* Since there's no forced or exaggerated movement going on with the cam, you'll be getting much better feedback from different stock suspensions. With floaty cars you can really feel the tires digging in, and the pitch/angle of the horizon react to that as you throw your car into turns. See, there's no artificial movement acting on the perspective, so you'll get a good sense of how much your car is leaning and rolling into a corner. As I said, can't explain it any better. Just see for yourself. In fact, just like you said - cars feel more planted and sim like.
There is also one more downside to having effects turned on: the bumper cam seems like its sitting rather high as you're overtaking other cars... you'll notice it. It doesn't sit at the correct height to begin with; IMO it's not low enough to the tarmac. And motion effects make it look higher. Besides, I think it's more of a slightly zoomed in view that sits on the edge of your hood/bonnet anyway, to give you a better glimpse of corners and the road ahead. Remember how nice bumper cams are in GRID, Dirt and Shift? Nice and low relative to the road..how it should be.
Anyway, if you honestly are looking for the best immersion, and "connected" feel to the car and track with proper true to life cam movement, leave the effects off mate. Try it for a few days at least.
Happy motoring.
