Cockpit camera on controller is really helpful, being able to see where the wheel is pointing and how much it is rotated allows you to make more subtle adjustments than on chase cam, it also let's you catch oversteer earlier and more accurately, I think in general it does make you quicker
Yes, especially in games like speed sensitivity filter like DR2, whre at different speeds it's not obvious how much wheel rotation you have right now. In other games like Racedriver Grid or Dirt 3, bonnet camera works better for me.
I started to really notice the differences when driving a trophy truck on a very rough trail in BeamNG. At first I thought that the chase cam was way better, because the car was bouncing so hard I couldn't really see where I was going. Then it hit me: since a real driver couldn't see much either they would've gone slower, and wouldn't have wrecked the car every 100m like I did. But I think we should also keep in mind that a static 2D cockpit cam gives us less information than the "VR" cockpit we have in real life or some better simulators, and that precise maneuvers from the cockpit cam might be harder than irl. Stuff like driving up ramps or parking in a narrow spot for example
Correct. A lot of racing gamers tend to drive way too fast than they or any race driver would ever attempt in the real world. Majority of racing games having poor deformation adds to this.
You are right about the 2D cockpit cam views in older sims... This is why when I do drifting, I use chase cam, and when I'm playing something like a truck simulator or something, I'll use the orbit cam or free cam to see where I'm parking and such...
Yea, I was a chase cam driver for years until I got serious and upgraded to a direct drive wheel and pc, it was tough but I was used to it in about a week or so, now it's the only way I drive, funny thing though on this topic, I did some testing after years of straight cockpit driving I drove chase for a week straight, got used to it and my times dropped, not significantly but technically I was faster by tenths. I'm back to cockpit but i think this whole debate is subjective and to each his own but I don't knock chase cam drivers if that's their thing
As a general rule, in arcade racers I use 3rd person camera and in sim racers I use the cockpit camera. As an additional argument to your points, the 3rd person camera also provides you with a lot of unnecessary information, which can make it harder to focus on that tunnel.
I used to drive at either bumper cam or hood cam, which gives a stronger feeling of speed than cockpit cam - so when i first tried switching to cockpit camera, i crashed all the time, because i didnt realize how fast i was going. I finally decided to not care about what time i finished, and instead just try to drive as slow as i needed in order to stay on the road, and to my surprise, i finished several seconds faster than my previous record. From that day onwards i have ALWAYS used cockpit cam 👍
@@rasmusl2067 Games are supposed to be fun, so i can definitely see why you prefer bumper cam 👍 Cockpit cam gives me much better immersion though, so now i prefer that, and find it very unnatural/awkward to see from different angles...
Agreed on all points, the biggest benefits to me are the increased feel of the body roll and over/understeer which you mentioned, they make precision driving much easier. However, when drifting in arcade racers like FH5, I prefer chase cam...mainly because it looks cooler. I personally prefer bonnet cam over cockpit, but in some cars, particularly race cars with easier to read Tach's/shift lights/speedos etc. Playing hud off in cockpit cam is transcendental.
Finally someone actually explains cockpit view Ive always used the overhead view but I really never found any reason to try cockpit since I always found it worse but now I wanna try it
Came from a lot of arcade games starting back with NFS 3 Hot Pursuit and from there on I somehow naturally went through trying out new cameras. Although I must say I found myself mostly using the chaser cam when using a controller. Except for Grid 2. For some reason I needed to sit right on the bonnet and I played this game a frickin lot! But after a while I first got the DFGT before switching over to the G29 and both of those wheels were not only reason enough for me to switch to cockpit - but also really got me into sim racing. With a controller I didn't really want to give them a shot. Anyways! I'd also say giving different cameras several tries and some time each try is not a bad thing to find out what fits you most. Especially when going to new or different types of racing games/sims. Nice video! Cheers~
It's funny the original Road&Track Presents: The Need for Speed had a pretty elaborate interior cam. It even showed you shifting gears, it had working instruments and rear view mirror. But the combination of mechanics wasn't new. It got borrowed from the original two spite scaling (not truly 3D rendered) Test Drive games, which as it turns out, were developed by the same people. Those Test Drive games ONLY had an interior view. The amount of simulation they packed into those is sort of impressive for being made for very slow computers of the 80s, including the 1MHz Commodore 64.
I was a hood/tv pod cam driver the whole time I've been racing, I decided that when I get Le Mans Ultimate, I'd start driving driver's eye view because that was the only thing that I hated going from sim to irl driving on the road where I usually just kept forgetting the right side of my car exists if that makes sense and I've been playing LMU in cockpit camera for the last 8 hours and I loved it and I got my pace back to a reasonable level for a new sim where I don't know either the cars nor tracks, I'm sticking with it long term and I can tell I'll only get better
Great video. I will always be a cockpit cam driver, but purely because it is far more immersive to me, more exciting, and just closer to what a real rally driver sees so I feel it's more realistic. It can be absolutely white knuckle stuff on some games, as you said, more intense. I currently play DIRT 2.0 exclusively. A couple of notes from my experience is that I seem to be pretty damn fast on the leaderboard at stages in Argentina and Monte Carlo because (I believe) the cockpit view gives you a far better perspective of where the nose and front wheels of your car are at all times which is super important on tight twisty stages. Conversely I am horrible at Finland and Greece, because, as you pointed out, I can't see over blind crests the way the chase camera drivers can, leading to me leaping into trees or rocks way too often! Also, wet and rainy conditions are a nightmare. The rain on the windscreen means you just can't bloody see ahead of you the way someone on the chase cam can.
I'm from the time where there was chase cam, and a little more far chase cam only in videogames. Chase cam is the one for arcade games and they are fun, but there is no discussion that cockpit cam is better because your visual is larger in small space so you can be more precise. Also, there are some chase cams that are locked, so you can say it is more or less like cockpit cam, so there is no much difference. But the ones that are not locked, you have to correct the car a little more because car goes one direction, camera on the other for a little and you loose much more time in corners. But of course don't let be fooled by words like, simulator, professionals, competition.... videogames are still GAMES, so enjoy them as you like ;)
So, I don't play driving sims, but I do play 6-axis space "sims" with Newtonian mechanics, and your advice here about "visual cues" in first person is even more relevant there. Without having your camera locked to the orientation of your vehicle, multiaxis spinning is functionally impossible to account for, but as soon as you jump into first person, (or, the way I usually build the spaceships, with a physical camera mounted as far back and high up as possible, rather than the immediate cockpit view, since the cockpit is usually buried somewhere in the center of the craft, for symmetry reasons,) you can intuitively tell which ways you have to counter-rotate to stabilize the thing. Your whole argument that you don't have to "look back and forth" between your vehicle and the direction you're going when in first person, but you do with a chase cam, only becomes more relevant when slight deviations in your orientation also cause significant changes to your linear movement controls. But it makes perfect sense that your reaction time to being "off-angle" is going to be noticeably quicker when that angle is locked to your viewpoint.
I use front bumper cam w/ controller just cause it lets me see the furthest around a corner. Only drawback is I can't see up the road as much but I will always trust my codriver
my thinking on this, is that the cockpit cam looks more realistic, and has value in that. but the chase cam, can show visual information about the car that you would normally feel. force feedback doesnt fully cover this feel. and in fact, most force feedback is augmented to make up for that, but can never fully replace the feel.
Thats a very good explanation on why it's better to drive in first person view. I myself drive in cockpit view, but with switched off wheel and driver. The wheel and hands are distracting. And also, the cockpit view is great for narrow stages like greece with alot of rocks on the sides. You can maneuver much better through the narrow bits.
It really depends on the game for me. Wreckfest? Chase cam, no contest, you need to be able to see all the chaos going on around you. For everything else, I want to use cockpit, but I've found I'm usually significantly faster from the hood or roof cameras. Probably something about being able to see both sides of the car so I can place it on apexes better.
Very good points that I wasn’t aware of especially with the cockpit view and upcoming corners. I find that chase cam is the hardest to drive. I usually start a new stage with the bonnet cam and then use a dash cam. Hopefully I can someday use the cockpit cam. Liked and Subbed.
I've actually been through all the phases on this. Starting with chase like everyone else, after a few failed attempts, finally moving into the cockpit. Moving into the cockpit camera feels hard, and like learning to drive from scratch at the beginning, moving back to chase feels straight up impossible. It definitely feels more responsive and immersive after the initial learning curve it definitely improved my times by a large margin. Coming back to racing after a long break, I found myself having to readjust to the cockpit cam all over again. On an unrelated note, after finally playing an arcade game (NFSMW05), I found the bumper cam, boosting the aggressive teen angst feel. For anything, at least semi-realistic cockpit is the king.
the biggest detractor from using cockpit (or bonnet) view is that you can't really see what's around your car as well, like for example if you were to be racing with other players and you didn't know where they were in relation to you exactly. modern games tend to have some sort of radar feature or at least a spotter or something, but some games don't. however, as long as the other players straight up don't drive through you, with some practice you can probably still get a "good enough" feel of relative positioning
I'm used to the chase camera because to me, it compensates the perception of the car behaviour that we don't have, since we aren't actually driving, we can't feel the side forces, but in chase camera you can see them by watching the car leaning againt it's suspension. In some games i could use cockpit view wit no problem tho.
Couple of things. One is a personal preference thing. If I'm playing with a controller/keyboard I find that for me, it's easier to use chase cam. All the way maxed for distance. This allows me to see the road ahead, the car, and anything directly around the car. I can already hear someone asking how that helps me drive better. Peripheral vision. As stated in the video, driving with a controller is pretty numb, this allows my brain to free up a little and process more visual stimuli than what is directly in front of my eyeballs(example: just the road ahead). With that, I am constantly monitoring where the car is pointed, how close I am to things on the side, and in games that have other cars on the track I can see if someone is getting too close behind(or the map when the game has one to see where other racers are and what turn is coming up). Because there is less travel time for a controller/keyboard, I can also correct oversteer much faster. Don't get me wrong, I am mostly focused on the road ahead, but my brain is just geared to also handle the extra visuals(I am one of those weirdo neurodivergent people). I don't need to turn my head as much, or shift my focus of vision to see what is going on. When using a wheel and pedals, I usually opt for the hood(or bonnet) cam when available(some of the driving games I play do not have a cockpit cam, like Need for Speed Underground 2 or Need for Speed Undercover. Consistency). For me, it just gives a better sense of actually driving the car. And the float of the chase cam(where the cam kinda sorta follows the car, but delayed and just sorta floats as though it's a drone trying to stay behind the car) does not work for me when I am using a wheel. The hood(or bonnet) cam also eliminates the you're on the left side or the right side of the car depending on which car you are using and where it was made that can trip some drivers up, as the hood(or bonnet) cam is directly centered. The second thing is on the elitist comment made in the video. This is why I stopped playing multiplayer in driving games that have that. I was watching a player run Dirt Rally 2.0(at least I think it was, could have been any rally game really) tournament at one point, and they were watching replays of the other drivers. At first I thought that was cool, showing the other drivers and such. Giving pointers so that later those drivers might be able to shave a few seconds off. Till one point when the streamer just started ragging on one of the drivers based on the movements of the in game steering wheel. The wheel was jerking full back and forth, indicating that driver was either using a keyboard or doing a full send in both directions on a controller. The driver wasn't doing too bad and actually got a decent time on the run. But was ejected from the tournament for, and I quote: "Using a keyboard". I've actually become really good at using a keyboard for driving games(when I started playing them, we didn't have driving wheels, we had a controller with no analogue sticks, or a keyboard). But today the elitism has gotten so bad that people will eject you from their game if you use anything less than what they say you should be using. I have a Logitech G29 wheel, and even that is not "elite" enough for many any more. I also use a HORI Apex(which essentially tricks the game into thinking you have an XBox controller, then translates the wheel movement into the left analogue stick left and right. And translates the pedals to the left and right triggers. Better compatibility with games that don't have full wheel support. No force feedback, just a vibration rumble and a spring that returns the wheel to center when not held), and got ragged on for that as well. I also prefer to drive automatic, I can drive manual and have owned more than one manual car in real life. But for me there is a disconnect between digital and real driving. When in a real car, I can feel the road through my seat, I know how fast the car is going from this, and know which gear I should be in for that speed. That vibration is not there for digital driving(unless you have thousands to spend, and the space to set up a full racing sim setup with full force feedback, I don't have either), which causes me to not know what gear I should be in. And many I encounter in the digital racing scene get upity about that as well. "Ew, you drive automatic?". Yeah, that was a long post. So if you clicked on the "Read more" button and got this far. I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day. And I hope you have fun in your driving game, and not busting your bum trying to keep up with what the elitists want you to do.
personally sometimes i like playing in chase cam, but that's only when i'm just doing things for the shits and giggles and would like to see how the car reacts to the shenanigans i'm doing from the outside
Great, non condescending and well explained info. As a Dirt 2.0 newb, I’m still wrestling with the FWD cars and the follow cam, but I think I will experiment with the cockpit cam moving forward. It’s a pretty challenging game as it is, but it sure is fun!
What a great video!! I tend to drive chase cam, but I mostly drive for fun and not really competitively, mostly BeamNG and Wreckfest, so the overall scenery has been more important. This video has certainly made me interested in learning both though. Cheers buddy.
I made the transition from chase cam to cockpit and, to my surprise, a lot of the intuition on how to drive a real car gets translated to the sim! Gone were the days of missing breaking points and drifting manically from side to side. I am not a rally driver irl but there was something that looked so wrong from the cockpit about all the little bad habits I had picked up with the chase cam.
As a keyboard driver myself, I prefer to drive with the cockpit camera, because as you said it gives a lot more visual feedback... and this is something that both keyboard and controller players really need, since we by default do not receive the same level of feedback (visual and physical) that wheel drivers do. When I started "simracing" back when I was little on WRC Rally Evolved (PS2) and V-Rally 3 (PS2), I would always drive with external camera, but just because I was completely inexperienced, and it felt better and honestly more enjoyable that way. Growing up I then started alternating between chase and hood camera (also moved from PS2 to PC), with games like Dirt 2 and (many years later) Dirt Rally 2.0, as I started noticing that hood camera would keep me more focused on the road. Since I got my real-life driving license a few years ago, chase camera is nearly impossible for me since it follows a completely different logic from what I am used to daily. Even hood camera started getting somewhat more difficult for me. Now on EA WRC I have fully transitioned to cockpit camera, switching between the one closer to the windshield or in between windshield and driver seat (depending on which one allows me to see the road the best, varies from car to car). I get this feeling especially with the Ford Fiesta Rally4, since the shape and visual you get from inside is the closest to my real car (Ford Ka+), to which I immediately related to. Driving with cockpit view just feels extremely natural to me with this one particular car (even if on keyboard). As a final note, what you said at the end of the video is absolutely right. I would never force someone to play in the way that I do: if one way works for me, it doesn't mean that it will work for others too.
In DR2 I always drive the rally stages on cockpit camera and the WRX tracks on chase camera. WRX requires to see what's going on to your sides as well, in case other drivers are doing something nasty and are taking your trajectory which is something you can't see from the cockpit (but would be able to see in real life with a small twist of the neck). Plus, there are no surprise corners there so you don't need to see that well into the corner. For rally stages I did seem to drive better on cockpit cam, but couldn't quite get why. This video explains it fairly well.
totally agree with all the things said in the video, i started with the chase cam (as im guessing like almost everybody else), but eventually i think that u find ur self drown in those thing u said about corners, so its like a natural step. No1 is better or worse for the cam they use, is just what kind of game they are looking for. and its just that, let people enjoy the games just the way they want to play
Love seeing these type of documentaries where it's a subject not many people cover, like this one! I hope to see more interesting topics from this channel! From my experience, both cockpit and third person camera views helps a ton on improving on your driving, I use cockpit view for initially driving the car and getting the feel of it, and third person to see how the car behaves and what should I change on how I drive the car. It's extremely helpful especially in Assetto Corsa where on a controller you have little to no feedback, for example I sometimes I don't catch that I steered too much which made me understeer or sometimes I don't catch that the car rolls a lot which means I shouldn't be weight transfering too much. And from there I take notes in my brain on how I should treat the car by the characteristics of it and how it drives I think that there's no downsides from both views, instead you should use both to get to know your car and understand it's physics so you can push it to it's limits, and to fully understand your car and how to drive it, there are a lot of driving techniques and driving styles out there to combat your car's downsides or to take advantage of your car's upsides.
Yooooooo! Dirt Rally was also my introduction to sim racing and it was also the title to make me realise why cockpit cam is superior to chase cam. Cheers man!
Did transition from 3rd person to cockpit over the years, just because its more exciting to me. For arcade racers I've recently fell in love with Woden GP's isometric cam
ive played forza horizon 1 on controller most of my life. i was a noob and a child when i first started so i was naturally using the arcade/action camera in the beginning because it gave me a sense of speed and allowed me to take the map in. picking it back up a couple years later i realised how shit i was after disabling the rewind feature. i switched to manual shifting (the one with the clutch) and a chase camera thats more rigid and closer to the car to be able to play better. at this time i was mainly interested in drifting. one time i used the cockpit camera to cruise around and take in the interiors of my cars, and i realised how much feedback i got from it. i started getting faster and faster, replayed the entire game on hard difficulty, relearned drifting and cockpit view basically stuck with me ever since. the one thing i didnt do in that game for any real period of time is turn off abs. i could get around without traction control by setting up my car well and driving okay, in fact i believe it made me faster overall. but god i just cant get over how bad braking in horizon 1 was. as soon as you turn off abs, you start to lock up 24/7 with no feedback of any kind: no clear visual feedback especially from the cockpit view, the little audio feedback there was would be drowned under the sound of the engine, steering becomes instantly numb like its an on/off switch with the slightest amount of overbraking... and all i have is a dinky xbox 360 controller. it felt like either the car was out of control or it wasnt decelerating. and i had no real way of telling where i was in the braking threshold until i locked up completely and was smoking. no sir.
As someone pretty heavily visually impaired I find the cockpit camera a little too restricting not mentionning all the cockpit clutter is hella distracting so I've been using bonnet cam for years. It's pretty much perfect for me.
There's nothing I dislike more than looking up a video of someone with a full driving set up and their game is in chase cam. I just close the video and never go back to their channel.
For me, cockpit camera makes me calculate the measurements of distances more accurate than chase one. Thus taking corners better and fast. Also I feel like on rally races, jumps and bumps on the roads are easier to have a feel on cockpit cam.
My first ever game was Colin McRae Rally 2.0 . I considered myself being a pretty fast driver as I mainly play racing games and there aren't any racing game I haven't played I think. Right now I'm trying to break my plateau by learning how to drive just as fast without using assists, previously I disabled ABS, Traction control and Automatic gearbox. Now my next step I think will be the cockpit camera
Imagine for moment. The 360 cam is in the follow position, connected to the game controller in your hands, and VR googles on your head, while sitting in a Tesla, doing 120 kph on the LA expressway. You are driving the car via the controller, and chase cam provides the view. Easy, or hard?
Great explanation, mate. I'm more of a *hood/bonnet* cam guy, at least while I am on single screen; at least until I get triples, then I will go full-on cockpit cam. I need to be either on the car, or in the car to feel connected to the car. The only way I will play from chase cam anymore is while using a controller -- I liken the experience on a controller to operating an RC car, in other words, I feel less connected to the car.
As a laptop user (15'6in) I prefer to drive from the bonnet cam as it's really hard to see the track from the cockpit due to the small screen. I might be buying a monitor in the future.
I don’t like cockpit cam since it doesn’t nearly have enough peripheral vision. Yeah you can increase FOV but then it gets a tunnel effect. It works best in VR
Awesome, as a kid, i mostly used outside cam, when i got to taste steering wheel, i moved naturally to inside, felt more fun, specially for a kid then.
Great video. I roll with the cockpit camera all the time. Purely cause it's more immersive that way. But the advantages of sim racing is you're racing from the comfort of your own home... Keyword comfort. Meaning it's your money. Do whatever makes you comfortable. Especially when it comes to equipment. You decided how you want to sim race. But if Immersion is what you're going for I would recommend the cockpit cam
I feel like the cockpit cam also gives me a different sense of speed, the camera being on the hood makes it seem like im going extremely fast, but when I use the cockpit cam i feel like i'm doing a way more manageable speed.
This is the most amazing take on this subject I've ever heard. I'm tired of sim-tards telling me how I should enjoy my game. I personally prefer the hood camera , it's not useful to have 60% of my view obscured by cockpit on an already small 16x9 screen
I started with Dirt 1 in chase cam, at some point changed to bonnet cam and felt much more at home because of the sense of speed, you dont get that with the chase cam. Then now with EA WRC ive switched to the cockpit (the one on the dashboard where you cant see the wheel). The sounds of this game are incredible and I find it very immersive the way you hear everything under the car and your codriver's voice is louder than on the bonnet.
I'm a racing game baby. I've only just dipped my toe into the genre with zero previous experience (not even arcade racers), coming into the sim racing sphere from my broader interest in simulation games. Cockpit view is the only way I can control the vehicle at all. I thought I was weird because of that, but now it turns out to be quite reasonable. You managed to put into words why I find it so hard to drive from chase cam perspective - I just can't perceive and "feel" where I'm going. Of course, it does matter that I just prefer cockpit view out of taste. I'm an "immersion first" kind of player, and watching the car from third person perspective takes me out of the experience and thrill.
Pre-video predictions (really this is just the conceptions I have): If you're on controller, do whatever's comfortable, cockpit is great. If you're on a wheel, drive from the bumper or the hood depending on your setup, wheel-less cockpit is justifiable under some circumstances if the game supports it Post-video: Yeah I actually kind of agree about the bumper, but when cockpit is unavailable (e.g. early Gran Turismo) it's great for getting familiar with fore/aft balance, which is something I struggled with myself for a good while. I personally use the hood cam because seeing a second wheel in front of the one I'm using is disorienting. When a game supports wheel-less cockpit like EA Sports WRC, I'll use that.
Assetto Corsa is my main sim, I just switch cameras depending on my mood and the car. If I'm driving a F1 car I never use chase cam, it feels weird and not precise enough for such a machine (I use the TV onboard camera) If I drive a hatchback, I can use chase cam because they are fun cars for chilling and it feels like an arcade game I'd like to give credit to the bumper camera, the sense of speed is incredible
As far as I remember (NFS 1), I've been using hood/bumper cam. As you said, I can see any micro-movement the car does. Even now, when I see streamers play chase cam with wheel, I just can't understand how they can control the car. Disconnected. Cockpit cam is when I really want realism. But for performance, hood cam for the "fixed to the car" view. But VR, I have another hint: use the "disconnected" cockpit view (shake cam max, car movement max). The reason is that you no longer can see the real world monitor and room, only the VR Horizon. Thus the brain feels no movement but your eyes see the horizon move. You get (a kind of reverse) sea sickness. Took me 2 weeks of 30-45mins nausea sessions to get to this tip (45mins: almost throwing out). Once applied, no problem doing 2h sessions. But the uncomfortable VR headset made me stop doing it after a few months.
Sometimes I like the chase cam bc I like to look at the car and I can see how my car is reacting to bumps on the road and other cars around it. But what you're saying about the cockpit cam is true. I mostly play gran turismo and honestly the better view for me just depends on the situation.
In my case, I prefer the cockpit camera because I'm way more accustomed to that position thanks to... driving in real life. It is just easier for me to calculate the size of the car and feel how it is behaving than in other camera positions.
I've never really thought about it. I've just always driven from cockpit view and driving in chase cam feels impossible to me lol. I do it sometimes just meme around because my timings and such are so off when I drive it.
It depends mostly on the type of games you're playing. If you're into arcade racing games, 3rd person camera is usually a good option but if you're trying some sim-cade/full simulation games using a camera that sticks to the car is more important than having full visibility of the environment and will make you understand what the car's doing at all time. Lastly if you're using a wheel and pedals always use cockpit camera. There is no better option to learn to control a car precisely and it feels really weird to drive a car from the outside while having a wheel in your hands at some point.
so, perspective here: been playing racing games since GT3 and NFS1 on the PS2, and while I started out with bonnet view, I eventually found myself preferring chase cam. while I do enjoy cockpit camera sometimes, I find that I still prefer chase cam as I'm still on controller/console meta and think of it like driving/controlling an RC car. if I get a proper sim rig then I would definitely go cockpit cam when using it, but only if I also had a VR headset because immersion ++ and also because at that point I'd rather spend the money on proper VR than buying a bunch of big TVs to surround (and bake) myself with. I like chase cam because it allows me to both see the route (FH4 Goliath for example) while also keeping an eye on how much space I have between the car and barriers/the edge of the road, which means I can cut turns and close to barriers much more consistently and effectively while still not hitting them than I could from the cockpit POV. at the same time, in multiplayer it is useful for seeing people around you without having to move the camera which can be vital for not accidentally running into someone. is it arcadey? yes. do I find my lap times are generally just far, far better with chase cam? yes. I don't believe in shaming preferences, but you seem pretty genial about it so I figured I would share my counter-arguments.
Tbh, the bonnet works for me. I already have a steering wheel in front of me, and then a gap, and then a screen. The steering wheel in front of me means I don't need a steering wheel on screen as well, real rally cars don't have steering wheels in front of their steering wheels. The gap from the wheel to the screen is like the dash. My screen is where the windscreen would be, so my camera angle needs to be from that perspective too.
I was literally playing NR2003 earlier with a steering wheel and peddle set debating between which I wanted to use. In that game and Forza I always have a hard time choosing between. Funny this gets recommended to me now.
I'm convinced that Google is always listening. I've had so many uncanny experiences where I was talking about or considering something, I hadn't googled anything about it, and it popped up in my ads or recommendations anyway!
@@DiariesOfABadDriver yeah that was my first thought lol but the reason I think it's weirdee than just that is I wasn't even talking about it, I was just switching between angles a couple times
bonnet vs Cockpit. In most games bonnet and Cockpit have different FOV settings. Bonnet FOV beeing more "narrow" feels "faster" - Cockpit is set wider to capture mirrors.. so its more zoomed out, wich feels slower. Keep the one you like more, because: if you switch, your feeling of speed and brakeing is kinda off... so stay on one cam, wich ever you prefer.
Coming from F1 and F1 games, I wish there was more real life series and games offering the tv pod / roof cam (I notices some cars have it in the Posrche Supercup, maybe WEC not sure), it's a fixed angle, semi-first-person view, and you still "see" your car which I love when I play. As a result I use chase cam in every game except F1 games.
Great video, well argued and fair. I haven't done much sim racing in a while, but cockpit cam (hood when cockpit isn't an option) is my preference, no matter the input method, even for more arcade racers, with the exception of more chaotic games, where the greater field of view and visibility matter more.
This is coming from the perspective of a pretty long time controller player and recent sim racer: On controller, I much prefer chase, but on wheel, cockpit by far. Beamng is my main car game, and I've got a lot of time on controller, and a decent amount of time on wheel. On controller, it's far easier for me to correct oversteer (this is likely due to just being able to go from completely turned one way, to the opposite much quicker than on a wheel) with chase cam), but for some reason, I'm pretty hopeless at correcting oversteer with chase cam on wheel (keep in mind, I'm still not amazing in general with oversteer, as I'm new to wheel, but still). I don't know why but my brain turns off when I oversteer on wheel with chase. I'm assuming it's just because I feel like I don't know where my wheels are, making it very difficult. I definitely don't mind cockpit on controller, but I hate chase on wheel. Ignoring input, I also don't like how I don't know too much of where the car is is cockpit. In third person, you know definitively where the physical limits of your car are, but with cockpit, it's sort a guess and hope sort of a thing. This comes more in handy when racing with other people side by side. This may be because of my inexperience, but I don't like how much of a guess it is figuring out how much room I have between another racer, specifically going around corners 2-wide (ex. trying to give room for someone to pass going into a corner, but they back off and being able to know when you can get back on the racing line, without it being a risk at all)
I use VR and - surprise: in bonnet cam, not cockpit :D I love to see more from the landscape than the car interior. I just wish the dirt/WRC would keep more weather effects on the screen like on a windshield
I started playing Gran Turismo Sport a couple years back and initially started with chase cam. I remember trying cockpit once and saying, "who the f*ck plays like this?" I was then introduced to one of GT Sport's dirt tracks, the Colorado Springs. I found it easier to drive in cockpit mode, and after I made the transition, I never really looked back.
4:24 this is where I recently defended the VERY STIFF chase cam of gran turismo 7 and people attacked me on that saying I was a fanboy. Cam inertia is probably by far the biggest chase cam issue, which is very well explained here. And GT7 by default has no cam inertia, so the camera points to where the car points. It remains a chasecam, but one where it is a lot easier to react to the car going berserk.
I'm one of the guys that started to use cockpit view when I bought a wheel and I literally can't turn back to chase cam. I feel like I don't have a single reference, neither in corners nor in braking zones
I play with the bonnet cam and a controller in sims. Cockpit view feels too boxed in. GTA racing I do chase cam, people like to ram and it helps to see them coming. I've also tried VR in cockpit view, and it's definitely the best for seeing where you're going, but unfortunately makes me motion sick.
A big thing that you didn't mention since it's not relevant to rally but I think a lot of people tend to struggle with racing other cars when you lose the perfect vision of what's happening around and behind you that chase cam gives you how you need to adapt the way you overtake/defend in cockpit cam
I REALLY struggle with any chase camera, very few games work with that for me. I main cockpit or bonnet/roof for the vast majority of games. (example, the delayed steering animation in Gran Turismo 7 makes cockpit disorientating for me) Some games of course I am simply left with bumper cam. (like really early Gran Turismo games) For Dirt Rally 2, what I find is both the best and the coolest is to drive the stage in cockpit, and if it's a particularly clean run, record the replay in bumper cam to get that vibe of you having stuck a GoPro onto the front
My biggest issue with cockpit camera is that I have no idea where the front of the car actually is. the number of times I'll demolish the bumper on a rock or a tree or a wall is unfathomable. chase cam solves this brilliantly and as someone who does a LOT of drifting, i've never had any issues with lack of information when trying to correct the car. If I'm doing time trial stuff and I do want a cockpit cam, I'll use a bonnet or bumper cam instead as this does a far better job of showing where the edges of the car are!
Personally, I think that's a very realistic part of cockpit cam and applies to driving a real car as well. Developing that spacial awareness is part of the skill and comes with practice. Thanks for watching!
In my case it depends a lot on the game and how the camera is set up. There are cases where I feel that the camera does not follow what I would be looking at if I were sitting in the real car.
Been a cockpit guy since Road and Track presents The Need For Speed. Its amazing. Though I do prefer to have some camera bob and shake, mainly as it lets me know a bit more how rough the area im driving on is. Add in things like a Drift cam in cockpit that moves as the car rotates simulating driver head movement ((No Vr for me yet)) makes it very easy to understand what the car is doing.
I change cam views depending on the situation or even mood. Sometimes I prefer front bumper cam with nothing obstructing view, other times the immersion of the inside of the car and the remainder of the time I just like to look at the car itself.
Only problem with cockpit camera is the FOV can be too damn low, and when I was first trying out driving games it was on console and I couldn't change the FOV, so now I'm too habituated to be comfortable to play cockpit, without spending tens of hours readjusting to the 'new' POV. Is cockpit better? Yes, 100%, it adds a challenge to play that I could enjoy.
About your comments on oversteer being hard to see in chase cam, idk if wrc games have it, but in art of rally the chase cam has a setting to make the cameras rotation happen at the same time as the car, so the camera is always parralel with the car. This means you see your entire screen rotate when oversteer happens so its just as easy to spot as in cockpit view. The issue is that quite a lot of games have absolute dogshit chase camera settings, focused entirely on cinematics and not fast driving
I'm not sure why, but Dirt Rally 2.0 is one of the only games I can play comfortably with from the cockpit view, even though I need to use a controller (I have a wheel, but an injury I suffered two years ago has made me unable to use it without it being physically painful). I tried in the WRC games, but can only drive those comfortably from the hood cam, and in F1 games I need the "TV cam" to drive effectively. Haven't played DR 2.0 in quite a while, so I might need to change that fairly soon, too.
One thing that often put me off from the cockpit view is the wrong position of the viewpoint. Too close to the wheel, too high or too low seat, all that makes driving in a sim feeling even more unnatural. I love sims like AC which allow you to change the position of the viewpoint in cockpit view and the FOV. Without this, I would feel weird driving and not comfortable at all by not getting the right sense of speed of the car and the weight transfer the car is doing. With more simcade titles with less accurate physics simulation, bonnet view or bumper view works just fine in particularly for accuracy in hitting those apexes as tight as possible or wallride as smooth as possible.
As an "old fart" (not that old, but still lol), I started with 2D games, wich didn't let you a lot of choice; I then later came to Playstation games, and started to play the first GT and Colin McRae Rallye. GT, on the first episodes, had just pursuit and bumper views, and as you said, bumper was too low. CMR on the other hand, had bonnet and cockpit cameras, and I played both depending on my mood. When GT started offering bonnet view, it was a no brainer, and it became my favorite one for several years, until graphics became good enough for cockpit views to be interesting. Nowadays, it's really difficult for me not to be visually behind the wheel, it's way more immersive. But whatever float your boat, we all appreciate our games differently 😉
Chase cam user on a controller. I tend to disagree on the point about the visual stimulus. I use chase cam because i think I can react quicker by seeing the car begin to slide. I don't get the same input from cockpit cam, in my opinion. I do occasionally use cockpit cam to change it up but always struggle with the dimensions of the car; lack of peripheral vision of the opposite corner of windscreen and bonnet. Again, just my opinion. Great video though.
Yeah that's totally fair. People are built differently so I can believe that some people find the car's movement in chase cam easier to key from. Being open minded enough to try things is what really matters. And you get the award for actually being able to civilly disagree with someone. It seems that no matter how diplomatic I am in my videos some folks still get upset 😅 Thanks for watching!
@@DiariesOfABadDriver I like your videos. They're well thought about and produced. We just disagree. No need for either of us to get upset or angry with each other. We love the same thing; rally/driving games. I will give cockpit another go though.
I never use cockpit camera. It's like covering half the windshield in a car with a sticker that looks like a dashboard. The screen is already smaller than a windshield would be, I have a desk in between me and it sometimes with a wheel, I dont need another wheel after it. I like hood camera.
![Should YOU drive from the cockpit? [Part 1]](/img/logo.svg){kind=logo}
