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.
Honestly ever since I started sim racing I have found my comfort zone to be the Bonnet camera. Its the same as the cockpit function wise and better vis
See, my nightmare is trying to drive from the backseat. I either have really long arms to reach the front, or I have a separate steering wheel and pedals. Either way, the cockpit gets more in the way of my visibility. So I drive chase cam in games
The one where you only have UI? I absolutely cannot stand it. I will take chase in arcade, cockpit in sims, but never hood/bonnet. I have no sense for the size of the car relative to my surroundings in that mode and I find that in tight maneuvers with little spacing that just ends up being a disaster. Also everything appears stiff all the time, so it is hard to have a sense for what my suspension is actually doing, which either chase or cockpit will do. To me, it just feels uniquely awful.
IMO, Roof Cam is the ultimate. It the combination of bonnet view and the higher view of 3rd person. Unfortunately not many games have this view except gt7 and Assetto Corsa.
Hoodcam is best. The computer screen acts as like the windshield, using cockpit without VR is like driving behind a windshield that’s behind another windshield.
Hoodcam master race! Also when using a wheel, cockpit view feels quite distracting because there's another (asymchronously moving) wheel in your sight.
Honestly, i drive using the cockpit view 99% of the time. Not only it is more realistic, but i get a better understanding of what the car is doing, and how much i'm steering (i use a mouse to steer, so this is important), but i'm just more used to it. Loved the video my guy, your channel is a hidden gem, i'm loving every video. Also, something that really helped me with racing sims was to watch more experienced drivers teach stuff. For example, the channel "viperconcept" teached me a lot on how to drive, setup the car, and much more. Do recommend it if you're interested.
@@riazhasan1199 Exactly, haven't tried Dirt Rally 2.0 yet (the laptop i use has a 256GB storage lmao), but i might have a wheel when i do get arround to play it 💀
@@riazhasan1199 I guess it's not that crazy since I used to use a mouse to steer in Half-Life Rally mod and it worked surprisingly well. Honestly probably gives you more degrees of precision than a thumbstick if you're used to it.
@@janbo8331 It is kinda whacky and weird at first, but to me (a person who drives lots of fast cars, but also trucks and cruises arround), the mouse gives higher precision and doesn't make the car wobble like a keyboard. Recommend trying it out :)
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...
I started recently playing proper sims with a proper wheel but a lot of people like me grew up playing on console with a controller and chase cam was 90% of the time the default. I've been playing RBR, AC and SLRE and I prefer the cockpit because you get the sense of speed and you have to rely more on the feel of your Force feedback on each individual car which has helped me with cornering and learning the cars capabilities. I also find it very rewarding to look at a cinematic replay and see what my car was doing and what mistakes I made from the spectators view.
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
GRID was the game that got me into sim racing, also the first game that I started using cockpit camera. It just looked and sounded so good using that view with that game. I never went back to any other cam view. For any racing games/sims.
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.
How annoying is this problem! I have a 21:9 screen and so much content (black barred to 16:9) is unwatchable without resorting to crappy zoom extensions, Even stuff on the commercial streamers is often pre broken. Yuck. (no disrespect aimed at DoaBD)
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.
I way prefer chase camera if my goal is to be as quick as possible. Having a view where you can se exactly where your car is relative to the road and seeing further across the stage makes my racing line and setting myself up for upcoming corners way easier. Although I like the immersion and thrill of being in cockpit mode
For me, i always loved cockpit driving for the immersion {hud off}, then watching my replay afterward to validate my driving decisions after the fact. It made the whole experience more complete; getting the immersion of realistic driving while actually racing, then enjoying the replay value seeing what i did right, and where i failed. Two times the satisfaction with this approach (active and passive)
How has this sub- 1.5k views? This is a wonderfully made video with a lot of work put in. Especially love stuff like what you show at 04:52. I'll also be showing the comparison from 02:12 to anyone who needs a comparison of those two views. Keep up the good work, I'm glad our community has people like you.
I also find the cockpit cam makes it MUCH easier to gauge elevation changes and react accordingly. Usually the chase cam is high enough that aside from hills, you only notice these subtle changes as the car is already going through them
I used to be a chase camera type of person, however that really started to change once I started wanting more out of the driving experience in sim racing games. At first keyboard wouldn’t cut it anymore, then controller felt alienating. Once I got a wheel, I couldn’t bring myself to go back to chase camera and not going to lie - I think I forgot how to race in 3rd person in sim racers altogether. You’re definitely right though, people should play these games however they wish but at the same time it’s fruitful to be open to other ways to experience the game.
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
Apart from the awesomeness of the video, I honestly truly appreciated the balance between the background music, the game sound and your voice. Although there were some issues with the bit rate. The general feeling of the video is pleasant
Thank you! Balancing the audio to the best of my ability (as someone with no formal audio training) is something I strive for, so I'm glad you noticed and appreciated it.
i love how overly positive you are during the video, and how you still support people playing how they want it’s very inviting to someone like myself trying to get into sim racing
I personaly always drive in cockpit vieuw but if im chasing high leaderboard times i usualy switch to bonnet/hood cam as it helps me focus more, although thats only for 4wd and fwd cars, for rwd drive cars i always stick to cockpit vieuw as that helps more with the feel of where the car is pointing as you mentioned. (also quick note, found you channel a few days ago and im realy liking your content, its informative and high quality you whould epext from the bigger channels, keep it up!)
it’s actually crazy ever since I was a little kid. I’ve always preferred cockpit camera. If it was in the game I used it even on arcade racing games. It was always so much better.
I've been playing racing games on PC since the late 1990's, and whilst it's fun seeing your car in the chase-cam view, nothing beats cockpit-cam when going your fastest. Even when cockpit-cam don't offer any "benefits" so to say in terms of visuals, I "feel" the car better in the cockpit-cam than any other view.
Agreed! Out of curiosity, what racing games did you play back in the 90s? I had NFS SE and Monster truck madness on win 95 when I was a young boy, but that was about it.
I just hate how I cannot move my head around the cockpit like I would in real life. When there’s a bump on the road I’d like to lift my head a little to see better, and when my vision is obscured by the A-pillar I’d just move my head a bit to the side, but I can’t. :(
Yes, it's too artificially constraining. It's always reminding you that it's a sim. Chase cam is like driving a slot car; it's obviously a toy, but you're still controlling it. It feels more natural.
Yea try vr, its actually awesome but long stints become uncomfortable, you get hot, sweat even with fan on you, lenses start fogging up, someone comes in room and scares the chit out you, but it's the most immersive your gonna get
I started playing in cockpit view with FlatOut 2. It actually has my favorite camera mode, which isn't entirely cockpit view - it's from the same angle, but the camera sits right in front of the steering wheel. I find it rare that games actually have this view, but Drive Club did and it helped make it one of my favorite racers of all time. The reason I like this view so much is because I feel it's what you're actually seeing when you're driving in reality. When you're driving in real life, you're focused on everything on the other side of the windshield - the road in front of you, as you stated - and not the steering wheel or the dashboard itself. It's nice to still see a little bit of the dash and the hood of your own car, especially to take in all of the graphical effects like reflections and whatnot, but when I see the steering wheel, the driver's hands, the driver's side window, etc., I feel it's really crippling your vision. In a real car, you have to turn your head slightly to the left in most cases to look out of your side window. In a lot of racers, I think it's showing too much of the vehicle innards in cockpit mode. It does allow you to focus on the road in front of you and try to ignore everything else, but I really feel that's easier to do in real life than it is on-screen. Right at 0:26 in this video is what I'm talking about: ruclips.net/video/67O0C3j1yf4/видео.html
can't agree more, nice point. too be honest i'm chase cam person & now willing to try & change the cam i'll belived it's will whole new experiece on dirts rallying. thanks to make such a good topics.
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've been a GRID player for many years, two of those were because i didn't own another game for my ps3 because i've used to live at the middle of nowhere i've picked up dirt 3 on humble bunde, and several years later when i got a decent computer to run it i've stuck to cokpit camera because i wanted to challange myself, but it turns out that i was helping myself 😂 i've been on and off on cockpit in grid legends because of the AI drivers screwing me around, i know it's an arcade game, but to me it's still a car game, and it's been fun, when the AI isn't too easy or too hard... i'm excicted to play dirt rally 2, i'm still a controller player, but i think that this info will make me look at cockpit camera in a different light, thank you so much for the video
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.
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
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.
SWINGMAN4LIFE :) - Started Simracing 2009 in chase and still use chase/swingman where I can. Can I do cockpit? YES, did in variouse forces cockpit championships be it Drit1/2, Iracing etc..but if I can take chase I am most comfortable and at my fastest pace in chase. Personally I can catch and hold a slide mutch better in chase than in cockpit, so for me the point in the video I would have to disagree. I am "half decent" in both and for me, chase is easier. My summary (applys for me only) between chase vs cockpit: PRO>>>> - During a fight ( circuit racing ) my spatial awarness is a lot bigger than even full triples/VR guys, I can attack/defend a lot better with said information; - Car placement for track limits is easier in chase; (remember all of this are what I think, it;s not a rule for all) - For me it's easier and less tiredsome to do long runs, be it long stage rally's or long stints on track; - In Dirt 1/2 I am half decent with chase - examples ruclips.net/video/gCugW09O7HU/видео.htmlsi=4J4rNAecj3PBQjRZ ruclips.net/video/Vm388Oq4h8g/видео.htmlsi=Mcbdz2Nv3pLIBbGu - Also in some sim racing tittles also in chase I can be half decent ruclips.net/video/QpufqL-g-tY/видео.htmlsi=_Z7nI1kpeN5qP2P8&t=3326 CON>>>>> - as pointed in the video be it track/rally there are circumstances where cockpit you have better undertanding of the corner, in rally example is provided here. On track being from swingman/chase it's harder to be consistent on hitting the apexes or requires more practice than in cockpit to achieve that consistancy - you will be bulied racing from chase :)), I don't care I have fun in chase no matter what everyone else thinks - if you get coaching for track or in general talk with team mates their brake markers will vary WILDLY from yours. OHH I brake and change of asphalt, but change of asphalt will feel dif from cockpit (FOV depended, cause not all cockpit cams are the same when you introduce FOV) and swingman, so always I have to choose my own brake markers/ques; - some car/sims have weird chase/swingman; Awesome video, I know some ALIENS that hide that they race in chase (the ones that don't do twitch streaming) also at some LAN events, RAceRoom Malaysia there was one finalist representing the minority in chase cam :)). Ty
My favorite will always be granturismo roof cam, sticks to the car like bumper/bonnet/dash cam, but mounted high up for greater visibility, I wish more games use it
This is the first time I've seen someone agree with my experience that having the camera locked to the character makes movement on screen much easier to judge. On the other hand I've lost count of people complaining about first person platforming in games like Mirror's Edge because you "can't see where your character's feet are" or in racing games how you "can't see how your car is moving".
It's interesting that you draw a parallel between this and other first person games, I think they're pretty different kettles of fish. I loved Mirror's Edge but I think there's not much 'control' benefit to playing in first person because a human is generally a lot easier to control than a vehicle (much more agile, smaller, less momentum etc.)
I found this really interesting, thank you. I've played and continue to play racing sims and my camera choice varies depending on what I'm playing however I'm currently playing a lot of Forza Motorsport with controller and the chasecam. If I got my wheel out again (its been put away for a while - T500) I would definitely use the cockpit/bumper but after watching this I might give it a go even whilst using the controller. Nice video, thank you!
Thank you, glad you got something out of it! As I mentioned towards the end, it's great with a controller, and while I haven't played Forza it seems like the kind of game that would benefit from it.
Very nice video, subbed just for the content approach. I only play with cockpit view (no wheel animations ig) when Im on the wheel, I cant play with anyother. But if I change systems and play with a controller I automatically can play with the chase cam. Its so weird, but its like that for me. I do love the cockpit view + wheel ❤❤
I started in chase cam. But from efficiency and precision, cockpit is the way to go. With cockpit cam you can see exactly direction in which your car is pointing. Something that chase cam has problem with. IMHO you have a tinies bit of delay in a chase cam, between input and car reaction. I 100% agree with what you said in this video.
Any racing game i play i always use the bonnet cam just cant seem to connect with the cockpit view to be honest but feel right at home on the bonnet, but one thing i am finding so frustrating right now is the new WRC the slightest touch of the scenery and the bonnet is flapping up making it almost undrivable in bonnet cam unless it fly's of and you get a nice clear view again to push on.
That's very true. Obviously its something that the real drivers have to contend with when it happens, but it is an advantage of the chase cam when it occurs.
The reasoning here just convinces me that chase-cam is superior. In shooters, we use third person to simulate spatial awareness. In a driving game, we use third person to simulate our inner ears. Chase-cam allows you to detect your direction of momentum as well as the rotational angle of your car. Cockpit view allows me to see where I'm pointed but not where I'm headed.
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.
Well done, that was a very good video all--around. I've been sim racing with wheels for 20+ years now (with long breaks in-between). For a long time I used the bonnet cam, but when I got a proper seat setup I switched to cockpit and I'm never going back. I think there's a lot to be said about your seating position in terms of which camera angle works the best. Aligning the cockpit perfectly to your physical wheel makes a big difference in performance, immersion and comfort. The screen needs to be low enough. I think most people have their screen higher than their wheel which is very unnatural.
I've played multiple sim racers with chase cam, and only on some sims do I find it better. Depending on how the camera reacts to car rotation, it can actually be better for handling oversteer/understeer. This depends heavily on the game, but in some games I find it superior, and as long as it's allowed in my leagues I'll be using it. When I don't use chase cam I prefer the hood cam over cockpit cam.
I've always done sim racing in chase cam and been belittled countless times by other sim racers demanding I use cockpit cam or else I'm unworthy or some shit, but they've never explained why they want me to use cockpit cam. This video makes very good points and has made me curious to try cockpit cam.
having a cockpit cam in the first place is what got me into simracing in general, GTR2 was unreal to look at when it came out! and id argue that the sound design is still top tier to this day.
Been thinking about thi to myself for a while, and always go back to cockpit for better feel and placement of the wheel. Chase looks cool, but usually end up driving more erratically and less smooth. Also, if you're good enough I'm sure you can do either and be just fine as well. And i totally agree about watching the replay later in chase 💯🫡
I enjoy the bonnet cam personally, but I’ll have to do some more cockpit view to try it out! Your videos are really good man, I hope you continue to grow and gain support
For as long as I`ve been playing racing games (other than Mario kart), I`ve never been a chase cam person, electing instead to play in bumper cam (or hood cam where available, if there is no cockpit camera available. If there is one, that`s what I default to), unless the game is something vary arcadey like burnout or ridge racer. The issue for me when I th thase cam has always been that having the car in view obstructs what`s directly in front of it (making it difficult to judge whether I`ll hit an obstacle or just miss it), while also making it harder for me to accurately judge the car`s trajectory, while fully seeing what`s coming ahead. Cockpit view doesn`t have these issues for me, and it helps with immersion. If I`m in a situation where I`m struggling in cockpit view though (particularly in race cars with horrible visibility), I usually going for hood/bumper cam, because while I loose on immersion, the visibility (and ability to judge the car`s position with maximum effectiveness) in unparalleled IMO
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 ;)
Completely agree with everything you said! As a side note I would say that I always wanted to know what a real racing driver sees and feels. That’s why I started playing racing games. And the only way for me personally is cockpit cam. It’s the closest I will be to that experience. But you’re absolutely right about doing whatever makes the player enjoy the experience. Nice job!
I find chase cam throws me because the car can rotate with respect to the camera, so you have to watch both the car and the track at the same time to keep to your line. With either cockpit or hood cam you are always looking exactly where you are pointing, so you can stay focused on the track.
Big Rally fan here. I also like all the other "serious" sim racers....I've always used chase cam because I like to see the scenery of the game, and like you said , it can let you see a little better of the road a head. However ! I have started using bonnet, or the cam that shows just the road and have found it to be a much better "sensation" for driving. And your right about "listening to the pacenotes better" that is so true.. It makes you concentrate and listen better, also, it makes you learn to understand how to drive the car better, but mostly, it developes confidence for cornering those blind corners....which is a big thing in Rally racing. LOL As for the cockpit view. I find it distracting and unrealistic. I play on a 49" TV and I'm about 5ft away from it. It's like looking a two views, one through the TV screen, and then through the game cockpit. The bonnet or the open view is to me, more realistic because you really dont see the dash when your racing anyway because your so focused on the road... As for the people who say anything other than the cockpit view is "cheating", well if it's cheating, then why did the game developers give us the choice? I think paddle shifting for rally racing is "cheating"... Its whatever floats yer boat ! And also, racing "purists" need to get a life. Its a game !! good video.
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.
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.
For me, I think the cockpit is a better way to race because you got the steering will ahead of you and your at eye level with the road. I also like Bonnet cam. I tried chase cam but it did not really work for me at least love the video. Keep up the good work
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.
I like the bonnet cam. When I used to drive real cars I didn't really spend time looking at the speedometer, handbrake or the pedals as you learn where they are and it sticks with you even when you are driving different cars. I find the animations and all the other stuff going on in the cockpit distracting and I just want to hear the pace notes. Great video, full of useful tips and I might even consider going to the cockpit view as I'm still experimenting with the game.
@@Doodlebugdude thanks, glad you enjoyed it! If you find the animations distracting you might still like the cockpit, but try hiding the wheel and arms.
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.
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.
Cockpit is almost always left hand drive so it doesn't simulate the majority of the world that drive right hand. With my driving style I offload the vehicle and basically point it in the direction of the exit of the corner so when it comes to hairpins I enter them almost backwards. It's alot faster but in real life tyres don't last. When they create a cockpit camera that looks where you are going like a driver would instead of straight out the front, then I will switch. Until I will not put up with looking at 90% wall, 10% track. Simulators are for doing things that would be to expensive to do irl even when the only thing you are damaging is tyres. Multiple monitors on the other hand. I'm all for it.😊
I was under the impression that the majority of the world uses left hand drive since most countries drive on the right? It doesn't bother me personally, as a native right hand driver, but I can see why it would.
I play this kind of games since NES back on early 90s, when i got my PS1 and PS2 i never used the chase camera ever again. Back there cockpit camera was rare, but the hood or the camera which only the road appeared already existed. When i drove a real car for the first time alone by the age of 13, all that road/hood camera playing time was instantly transfered to the real world.
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
Great overview. I have played Dirt 1, 2, 3 & 4, Dirt Rally 2 and WRCs 9, 10, Generations and the brand new EA WRC. Always use a wheel and never ever a controller. I first started with the chase view and with gaining experience overtime I've graduated to the cockpit and bonnet views. I think the cockpit view provides a more realistic experience because it's almost the same visual as driving real car. I also discovered that in chase view I had a tendency to miss my marks hitting the apex which usually meant driving way too deep into a corner. Cockpit view also reduces my tendency to over drive the car. I think if you try it and get used to it you will find your times going down. Last thing I thought of while watching the video is left seat vs right seat. From the cockpit it's a huge difference during cornering and hairpin braking. If you are an American who likes to Scandinavian Flick the right seat can be challenging. From the chase view driver seat placement isn't an issue.
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!
I just switched to hood view instead of cockpit view for years for rally simulators. The less obstructed view helps a lot for gaining extra precision while scanning the track. Good video btw!
For me chase cam is only weird when you drive with a wheel, other than that i'm perfectly fine with it, depending on the physics i'll still prefer a static attached hood, dashboard/cockpit or roof-cam tho for the better feedback they provide over most chase cams. Roof cameras in general are very underrated i think, you get the benefits of a hood or dashboard/cockpit camera while at the same time getting maximum visibility over your car's front end dimensions.
Cockpit camera really helped me learn how to smooth steer/roll steer on a controller. Being able to see how the wheel moves on the cockpit let me understand unrefined my steering movements were, and now I can take corners with a lot more precision and it also feels nicer to look at my own driving.
Many racing games have terrible cockpit cameras. Looking at you Forza. Unless I'm in VR I'd rather use bonnet cam, even bumper cam in some cases. Special mention to the second cockpit cam that removes the steering wheel and places the camera closer to the windshield. Now that's the ideal camera
I drove on chasecam all the time until recently. I usually played more arcade style racing games like nfs or forza horizon. But i started forza motorsport not long ago and by default the cam was in the cockpit, i decided to stick with it and give it a try, and i fell in love with it. It's a lot more Immersive and i feel like it allows me to focus much more on the track in front of me then chase cam does. If i will play forza horizon again where i tend to drift a lot, i will probably do that in chase mode. But for track racing the cockpit is more fun i.m.o.
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.
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.
![Have YOU lost your cockpit virginity? [Part 2]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/pl_OaEXAmBQ/mqdefault.jpg)
![Have YOU lost your cockpit virginity? [Part 2]](/img/tr.png)
![State of Play | September 24, 2024 [ENGLISH]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/fVs0suPHAX8/mqdefault.jpg)
Part 2 can be seen here; ruclips.net/video/pl_OaEXAmBQ/видео.html
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
If it's animated correctly. Also having hand animations helps too, because beamng for example is weird.
@@wydua2049 wierd its the opposite for me
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.
my thoughts exactly
How do you see that through the hood of a car?
“Cockpit virgins” 1:06 - I feel like this needs to be a band name
read your comment the second he said that lmao
Or like the cadet crew for virgin Airlines
I always preferred driving from the trunk
Say no to trunk driving ! 😅
Honestly ever since I started sim racing I have found my comfort zone to be the Bonnet camera. Its the same as the cockpit function wise and better vis
Better visibility makes it OP’d.
This is basically cheating
@@Joshua-by4dc if its wrong why does it feel so right
@@jerry250ify it doesn't feels right, it feels easier, is two different things
@@Joshua-by4dc I play to have fun and be good at the game. I find the interior distracting so I use the ideal setup for me
The answer is yes. I used to have nightmares where I was perched on top of my own car, just driving through town.
That sounds like one hell of a fever dream 😂
In what FOV did you dream in while perched on top of your car?
Mr bean????
@@NexuJin 400
See, my nightmare is trying to drive from the backseat. I either have really long arms to reach the front, or I have a separate steering wheel and pedals. Either way, the cockpit gets more in the way of my visibility. So I drive chase cam in games
I've been a cockpit guy my entire sim life, up to and including using the cockpit view in GTA V once it was offered.
Too little FOV for cockpit cam in an open world game like GTAV
@@installshieldwizard3017 It's fine for single player. I don't play online.
@@installshieldwizard3017 older GTA titles had mods to change FOV.
I have been too always a chockpit guy
@@installshieldwizard3017my old GTA clips show far it can be modded, including entirely custom view for bikes.
I think bonnet cam is the best of both worlds
The one where you only have UI? I absolutely cannot stand it. I will take chase in arcade, cockpit in sims, but never hood/bonnet. I have no sense for the size of the car relative to my surroundings in that mode and I find that in tight maneuvers with little spacing that just ends up being a disaster. Also everything appears stiff all the time, so it is hard to have a sense for what my suspension is actually doing, which either chase or cockpit will do.
To me, it just feels uniquely awful.
@@101jir No, you see the bonnet with that camera, you know exactly how big the car is and where it's going.
IMO, Roof Cam is the ultimate. It the combination of bonnet view and the higher view of 3rd person. Unfortunately not many games have this view except gt7 and Assetto Corsa.
@IvanNOFX Oh right, yeah that works.
I fully agree
Hoodcam is best. The computer screen acts as like the windshield, using cockpit without VR is like driving behind a windshield that’s behind another windshield.
Games like ACC and WRC 10 have a "dashboard" cam that works really well...
Hoodcam master race! Also when using a wheel, cockpit view feels quite distracting because there's another (asymchronously moving) wheel in your sight.
no the windshield acts like a windshield. The monitor acts like your eyes. Aside from that hoodcam has always felt awkward for me personally.
@@LeetTron5000
No your eyes act as your eyes
@@andrewburnert89 you can turn that off in most sims
Honestly, i drive using the cockpit view 99% of the time. Not only it is more realistic, but i get a better understanding of what the car is doing, and how much i'm steering (i use a mouse to steer, so this is important), but i'm just more used to it.
Loved the video my guy, your channel is a hidden gem, i'm loving every video.
Also, something that really helped me with racing sims was to watch more experienced drivers teach stuff. For example, the channel "viperconcept" teached me a lot on how to drive, setup the car, and much more. Do recommend it if you're interested.
wow using mouse to steer in Dirt Rally 2.0 sounds crazy but if you are enjoying and having fun, thats all that matters.
@@riazhasan1199 Exactly, haven't tried Dirt Rally 2.0 yet (the laptop i use has a 256GB storage lmao), but i might have a wheel when i do get arround to play it 💀
@@riazhasan1199 I guess it's not that crazy since I used to use a mouse to steer in Half-Life Rally mod and it worked surprisingly well. Honestly probably gives you more degrees of precision than a thumbstick if you're used to it.
Woah, I didn't even know one could use mouse steering. Sounds whacky, would love to see it sometime!
@@janbo8331 It is kinda whacky and weird at first, but to me (a person who drives lots of fast cars, but also trucks and cruises arround), the mouse gives higher precision and doesn't make the car wobble like a keyboard. Recommend trying it out :)
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...
I started recently playing proper sims with a proper wheel but a lot of people like me grew up playing on console with a controller and chase cam was 90% of the time the default. I've been playing RBR, AC and SLRE and I prefer the cockpit because you get the sense of speed and you have to rely more on the feel of your Force feedback on each individual car which has helped me with cornering and learning the cars capabilities. I also find it very rewarding to look at a cinematic replay and see what my car was doing and what mistakes I made from the spectators view.
I have always been a chase camera guy, but after seeing this will give cockpit camera a go. Thank you for making this.
don't betrai the brotherhood :), be strong stay chase
Have fun man. It takes a while for your sensors and brain to get used to it, so try to stick with it for a while.
Ha Ha Ha@@CaramidaruAndreiBogdan
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
GRID was the game that got me into sim racing, also the first game that I started using cockpit camera. It just looked and sounded so good using that view with that game. I never went back to any other cam view. For any racing games/sims.
Same here man
@fredothebrother1704 Gotta love some old school GRID. I have a full blown racing sim now. Mostly AC and rFactor 2
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.
being in the centre of the vehicle gives me more info on what the rear wheels are doing and i think its very helpful
Oh YES this video is ultrawide, No black bars like usual, Thank you Sir Bad Driver for blessing me with a rare ultrawide video
How annoying is this problem! I have a 21:9 screen and so much content (black barred to 16:9) is unwatchable without resorting to crappy zoom extensions, Even stuff on the commercial streamers is often pre broken. Yuck. (no disrespect aimed at DoaBD)
@@ChrisFaa Even movie studios cannot upload trailers properly in their native aspect ratio.
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 👍
There's no extra practical benefits switching from bumper/bonnet cam to cockpit though.
@@shira_yone When you feel like you are going slower, you have more time to react. At last it feels that way to me.
Came here to say that I prefer bumper cam for the sense of speed
@@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...
Cockpit cam basically just giving a natural version of what we already use to in real life.
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.
I way prefer chase camera if my goal is to be as quick as possible.
Having a view where you can se exactly where your car is relative to the road and seeing further across the stage makes my racing line and setting myself up for upcoming corners way easier.
Although I like the immersion and thrill of being in cockpit mode
Man made nastiest sim race content, and thought we wouldnt notice it... Great video!
For me, i always loved cockpit driving for the immersion {hud off}, then watching my replay afterward to validate my driving decisions after the fact. It made the whole experience more complete; getting the immersion of realistic driving while actually racing, then enjoying the replay value seeing what i did right, and where i failed. Two times the satisfaction with this approach (active and passive)
How has this sub- 1.5k views? This is a wonderfully made video with a lot of work put in. Especially love stuff like what you show at 04:52. I'll also be showing the comparison from 02:12 to anyone who needs a comparison of those two views.
Keep up the good work, I'm glad our community has people like you.
Thank you so much for the kind words! Glad you appreciated the work I put into it 🙂
I also find the cockpit cam makes it MUCH easier to gauge elevation changes and react accordingly. Usually the chase cam is high enough that aside from hills, you only notice these subtle changes as the car is already going through them
I used to be a chase camera type of person, however that really started to change once I started wanting more out of the driving experience in sim racing games. At first keyboard wouldn’t cut it anymore, then controller felt alienating. Once I got a wheel, I couldn’t bring myself to go back to chase camera and not going to lie - I think I forgot how to race in 3rd person in sim racers altogether. You’re definitely right though, people should play these games however they wish but at the same time it’s fruitful to be open to other ways to experience the game.
Genuinely thought you’d be a significantly bigger channel with the quality of this video
Good work!!
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
Apart from the awesomeness of the video, I honestly truly appreciated the balance between the background music, the game sound and your voice. Although there were some issues with the bit rate. The general feeling of the video is pleasant
Thank you! Balancing the audio to the best of my ability (as someone with no formal audio training) is something I strive for, so I'm glad you noticed and appreciated it.
i love how overly positive you are during the video, and how you still support people playing how they want it’s very inviting to someone like myself trying to get into sim racing
Glad to hear that, Joseph! Have you started driving in any sims?
I personaly always drive in cockpit vieuw but if im chasing high leaderboard times i usualy switch to bonnet/hood cam as it helps me focus more, although thats only for 4wd and fwd cars, for rwd drive cars i always stick to cockpit vieuw as that helps more with the feel of where the car is pointing as you mentioned.
(also quick note, found you channel a few days ago and im realy liking your content, its informative and high quality you whould epext from the bigger channels, keep it up!)
Oh man! a 21:9 video played back on a 38 inch 21:9 display is absolutely gorgeous
it’s actually crazy ever since I was a little kid. I’ve always preferred cockpit camera. If it was in the game I used it even on arcade racing games. It was always so much better.
Me too, my first cockpit camera experience was with test driver unlimited on the PS2
I've been playing racing games on PC since the late 1990's, and whilst it's fun seeing your car in the chase-cam view, nothing beats cockpit-cam when going your fastest. Even when cockpit-cam don't offer any "benefits" so to say in terms of visuals, I "feel" the car better in the cockpit-cam than any other view.
Agreed! Out of curiosity, what racing games did you play back in the 90s? I had NFS SE and Monster truck madness on win 95 when I was a young boy, but that was about it.
I just hate how I cannot move my head around the cockpit like I would in real life. When there’s a bump on the road I’d like to lift my head a little to see better, and when my vision is obscured by the A-pillar I’d just move my head a bit to the side, but I can’t. :(
Yes, it's too artificially constraining. It's always reminding you that it's a sim. Chase cam is like driving a slot car; it's obviously a toy, but you're still controlling it. It feels more natural.
Can VR headset help here? - I would love to try it.
buy a quest 3
@@randomguydoes2901
Tempting. Love to try it in a driving game.
Yea try vr, its actually awesome but long stints become uncomfortable, you get hot, sweat even with fan on you, lenses start fogging up, someone comes in room and scares the chit out you, but it's the most immersive your gonna get
I started playing in cockpit view with FlatOut 2. It actually has my favorite camera mode, which isn't entirely cockpit view - it's from the same angle, but the camera sits right in front of the steering wheel. I find it rare that games actually have this view, but Drive Club did and it helped make it one of my favorite racers of all time. The reason I like this view so much is because I feel it's what you're actually seeing when you're driving in reality. When you're driving in real life, you're focused on everything on the other side of the windshield - the road in front of you, as you stated - and not the steering wheel or the dashboard itself. It's nice to still see a little bit of the dash and the hood of your own car, especially to take in all of the graphical effects like reflections and whatnot, but when I see the steering wheel, the driver's hands, the driver's side window, etc., I feel it's really crippling your vision. In a real car, you have to turn your head slightly to the left in most cases to look out of your side window. In a lot of racers, I think it's showing too much of the vehicle innards in cockpit mode. It does allow you to focus on the road in front of you and try to ignore everything else, but I really feel that's easier to do in real life than it is on-screen.
Right at 0:26 in this video is what I'm talking about:
ruclips.net/video/67O0C3j1yf4/видео.html
Whenever I play a racing game with cockpit view, I like to turn of the hud accept the racing line and rely solely on the dashboard of the car.
can't agree more, nice point. too be honest i'm chase cam person & now willing to try & change the cam i'll belived it's will whole new experiece on dirts rallying. thanks to make such a good topics.
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've been a GRID player for many years, two of those were because i didn't own another game for my ps3 because i've used to live at the middle of nowhere
i've picked up dirt 3 on humble bunde, and several years later when i got a decent computer to run it i've stuck to cokpit camera because i wanted to challange myself, but it turns out that i was helping myself 😂
i've been on and off on cockpit in grid legends because of the AI drivers screwing me around, i know it's an arcade game, but to me it's still a car game, and it's been fun, when the AI isn't too easy or too hard...
i'm excicted to play dirt rally 2, i'm still a controller player, but i think that this info will make me look at cockpit camera in a different light, thank you so much for the video
Excellent video man, very insightful, offers a nice new perspective (pun intended)
Oddly relaxing and pleasant to watch as well
Thanks man, glad you enjoyed it!
I think the one where you're on the front of the car (not bonnet cam, the one that sits on the radiator) is best. Absolutely love it.
It's typically called the bumper cam but I'll have to start calling it the radiator cam 😁
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.
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
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.
SWINGMAN4LIFE :) - Started Simracing 2009 in chase and still use chase/swingman where I can. Can I do cockpit? YES, did in variouse forces cockpit championships be it Drit1/2, Iracing etc..but if I can take chase I am most comfortable and at my fastest pace in chase.
Personally I can catch and hold a slide mutch better in chase than in cockpit, so for me the point in the video I would have to disagree. I am "half decent" in both and for me, chase is easier.
My summary (applys for me only) between chase vs cockpit:
PRO>>>>
- During a fight ( circuit racing ) my spatial awarness is a lot bigger than even full triples/VR guys, I can attack/defend a lot better with said information;
- Car placement for track limits is easier in chase; (remember all of this are what I think, it;s not a rule for all)
- For me it's easier and less tiredsome to do long runs, be it long stage rally's or long stints on track;
- In Dirt 1/2 I am half decent with chase - examples
ruclips.net/video/gCugW09O7HU/видео.htmlsi=4J4rNAecj3PBQjRZ
ruclips.net/video/Vm388Oq4h8g/видео.htmlsi=Mcbdz2Nv3pLIBbGu
- Also in some sim racing tittles also in chase I can be half decent
ruclips.net/video/QpufqL-g-tY/видео.htmlsi=_Z7nI1kpeN5qP2P8&t=3326
CON>>>>>
- as pointed in the video be it track/rally there are circumstances where cockpit you have better undertanding of the corner, in rally example is provided here. On track being from swingman/chase it's harder to be consistent on hitting the apexes or requires more practice than in cockpit to achieve that consistancy
- you will be bulied racing from chase :)), I don't care I have fun in chase no matter what everyone else thinks
- if you get coaching for track or in general talk with team mates their brake markers will vary WILDLY from yours. OHH I brake and change of asphalt, but change of asphalt will feel dif from cockpit (FOV depended, cause not all cockpit cams are the same when you introduce FOV) and swingman, so always I have to choose my own brake markers/ques;
- some car/sims have weird chase/swingman;
Awesome video, I know some ALIENS that hide that they race in chase (the ones that don't do twitch streaming) also at some LAN events, RAceRoom Malaysia there was one finalist representing the minority in chase cam :)).
Ty
My favorite will always be granturismo roof cam, sticks to the car like bumper/bonnet/dash cam, but mounted high up for greater visibility, I wish more games use it
This is the first time I've seen someone agree with my experience that having the camera locked to the character makes movement on screen much easier to judge. On the other hand I've lost count of people complaining about first person platforming in games like Mirror's Edge because you "can't see where your character's feet are" or in racing games how you "can't see how your car is moving".
It's interesting that you draw a parallel between this and other first person games, I think they're pretty different kettles of fish. I loved Mirror's Edge but I think there's not much 'control' benefit to playing in first person because a human is generally a lot easier to control than a vehicle (much more agile, smaller, less momentum etc.)
I found this really interesting, thank you. I've played and continue to play racing sims and my camera choice varies depending on what I'm playing however I'm currently playing a lot of Forza Motorsport with controller and the chasecam. If I got my wheel out again (its been put away for a while - T500) I would definitely use the cockpit/bumper but after watching this I might give it a go even whilst using the controller.
Nice video, thank you!
Thank you, glad you got something out of it!
As I mentioned towards the end, it's great with a controller, and while I haven't played Forza it seems like the kind of game that would benefit from it.
Don't even play racing games, just clicked on this randomly and automatically hit the like button for the ultrawide upload
Very nice video, subbed just for the content approach. I only play with cockpit view (no wheel animations ig) when Im on the wheel, I cant play with anyother. But if I change systems and play with a controller I automatically can play with the chase cam. Its so weird, but its like that for me. I do love the cockpit view + wheel ❤❤
I started in chase cam. But from efficiency and precision, cockpit is the way to go. With cockpit cam you can see exactly direction in which your car is pointing. Something that chase cam has problem with. IMHO you have a tinies bit of delay in a chase cam, between input and car reaction.
I 100% agree with what you said in this video.
Any racing game i play i always use the bonnet cam just cant seem to connect with the cockpit view to be honest but feel right at home on the bonnet, but one thing i am finding so frustrating right now is the new WRC the slightest touch of the scenery and the bonnet is flapping up making it almost undrivable in bonnet cam unless it fly's of and you get a nice clear view again to push on.
That's very true. Obviously its something that the real drivers have to contend with when it happens, but it is an advantage of the chase cam when it occurs.
The reasoning here just convinces me that chase-cam is superior. In shooters, we use third person to simulate spatial awareness. In a driving game, we use third person to simulate our inner ears.
Chase-cam allows you to detect your direction of momentum as well as the rotational angle of your car. Cockpit view allows me to see where I'm pointed but not where I'm headed.
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.
"Using a steering wheel vs keyboard" has got to be your next topic
Well done, that was a very good video all--around. I've been sim racing with wheels for 20+ years now (with long breaks in-between). For a long time I used the bonnet cam, but when I got a proper seat setup I switched to cockpit and I'm never going back. I think there's a lot to be said about your seating position in terms of which camera angle works the best. Aligning the cockpit perfectly to your physical wheel makes a big difference in performance, immersion and comfort. The screen needs to be low enough. I think most people have their screen higher than their wheel which is very unnatural.
Hood cam is just the best of both worlds ngl
I've played multiple sim racers with chase cam, and only on some sims do I find it better.
Depending on how the camera reacts to car rotation, it can actually be better for handling oversteer/understeer.
This depends heavily on the game, but in some games I find it superior, and as long as it's allowed in my leagues I'll be using it.
When I don't use chase cam I prefer the hood cam over cockpit cam.
I've always done sim racing in chase cam and been belittled countless times by other sim racers demanding I use cockpit cam or else I'm unworthy or some shit, but they've never explained why they want me to use cockpit cam. This video makes very good points and has made me curious to try cockpit cam.
I'm glad to hear that, as that's exactly what my intention was! It's definitely worth at least trying.
having a cockpit cam in the first place is what got me into simracing in general, GTR2 was unreal to look at when it came out! and id argue that the sound design is still top tier to this day.
Been thinking about thi to myself for a while, and always go back to cockpit for better feel and placement of the wheel. Chase looks cool, but usually end up driving more erratically and less smooth. Also, if you're good enough I'm sure you can do either and be just fine as well. And i totally agree about watching the replay later in chase 💯🫡
Absolutely agree, I felt the same when I was transitioning to an inside camera!
I enjoy the bonnet cam personally, but I’ll have to do some more cockpit view to try it out! Your videos are really good man, I hope you continue to grow and gain support
Thanks, I appreciate it! Hope the cockpit goes well for you :)
For as long as I`ve been playing racing games (other than Mario kart), I`ve never been a chase cam person, electing instead to play in bumper cam (or hood cam where available, if there is no cockpit camera available. If there is one, that`s what I default to), unless the game is something vary arcadey like burnout or ridge racer.
The issue for me when I th thase cam has always been that having the car in view obstructs what`s directly in front of it (making it difficult to judge whether I`ll hit an obstacle or just miss it), while also making it harder for me to accurately judge the car`s trajectory, while fully seeing what`s coming ahead. Cockpit view doesn`t have these issues for me, and it helps with immersion. If I`m in a situation where I`m struggling in cockpit view though (particularly in race cars with horrible visibility), I usually going for hood/bumper cam, because while I loose on immersion, the visibility (and ability to judge the car`s position with maximum effectiveness) in unparalleled IMO
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 ;)
We can all agree that the cinematic cam
2.7 K subs and producing bangers like this?! Awesome stuff man, keep up the good work, would love to see more videos like that !
I swapped from chase to cockpit when I realised I kept looking at my car instead of the track. Helps a lot.
Completely agree with everything you said! As a side note I would say that I always wanted to know what a real racing driver sees and feels. That’s why I started playing racing games. And the only way for me personally is cockpit cam. It’s the closest I will be to that experience. But you’re absolutely right about doing whatever makes the player enjoy the experience. Nice job!
I find chase cam throws me because the car can rotate with respect to the camera, so you have to watch both the car and the track at the same time to keep to your line. With either cockpit or hood cam you are always looking exactly where you are pointing, so you can stay focused on the track.
Big Rally fan here. I also like all the other "serious" sim racers....I've always used chase cam because I like to see the scenery of the game, and like you said , it can let you see a little better of the road a head. However ! I have started using bonnet, or the cam that shows just the road and have found it to be a much better "sensation" for driving. And your right about "listening to the pacenotes better" that is so true.. It makes you concentrate and listen better, also, it makes you learn to understand how to drive the car better, but mostly, it developes confidence for cornering those blind corners....which is a big thing in Rally racing. LOL
As for the cockpit view. I find it distracting and unrealistic. I play on a 49" TV and I'm about 5ft away from it. It's like looking a two views, one through the TV screen, and then through the game cockpit. The bonnet or the open view is to me, more realistic because you really dont see the dash when your racing anyway because your so focused on the road...
As for the people who say anything other than the cockpit view is "cheating", well if it's cheating, then why did the game developers give us the choice? I think paddle shifting for rally racing is "cheating"... Its whatever floats yer boat ! And also, racing "purists" need to get a life. Its a game !!
good video.
Thank you for uploading in 21:9 finally my ultrawide gets utilized.
I got you, chief 👌
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.
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.
Thank you. This convinced me that I had not given it a real try, and there are good reasons I need to.
You're very welcome, hope it goes well for you!
I've always said this. Cockpit or hood camera are by far better than chase. People who play with chase camera tend to turn in twice into a corner.
For me, I think the cockpit is a better way to race because you got the steering will ahead of you and your at eye level with the road. I also like Bonnet cam. I tried chase cam but it did not really work for me at least love the video. Keep up the good work
Cheers, Grant! Much appreciated
The phrase "cockpit virgins" got me places...
🤣
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.
I like the bonnet cam. When I used to drive real cars I didn't really spend time looking at the speedometer, handbrake or the pedals as you learn where they are and it sticks with you even when you are driving different cars.
I find the animations and all the other stuff going on in the cockpit distracting and I just want to hear the pace notes.
Great video, full of useful tips and I might even consider going to the cockpit view as I'm still experimenting with the game.
@@Doodlebugdude thanks, glad you enjoyed it!
If you find the animations distracting you might still like the cockpit, but try hiding the wheel and arms.
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.
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.
Cockpit is almost always left hand drive so it doesn't simulate the majority of the world that drive right hand. With my driving style I offload the vehicle and basically point it in the direction of the exit of the corner so when it comes to hairpins I enter them almost backwards. It's alot faster but in real life tyres don't last. When they create a cockpit camera that looks where you are going like a driver would instead of straight out the front, then I will switch. Until I will not put up with looking at 90% wall, 10% track. Simulators are for doing things that would be to expensive to do irl even when the only thing you are damaging is tyres. Multiple monitors on the other hand. I'm all for it.😊
I was under the impression that the majority of the world uses left hand drive since most countries drive on the right?
It doesn't bother me personally, as a native right hand driver, but I can see why it would.
I play this kind of games since NES back on early 90s, when i got my PS1 and PS2 i never used the chase camera ever again. Back there cockpit camera was rare, but the hood or the camera which only the road appeared already existed. When i drove a real car for the first time alone by the age of 13, all that road/hood camera playing time was instantly transfered to the real world.
The sense of speed is the reason I always play in the cockpit
Exactly why I prefer bumper cam... Best of both worlds
Chase for replay, for sure. Cockpit for racing
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
Great overview. I have played Dirt 1, 2, 3 & 4, Dirt Rally 2 and WRCs 9, 10, Generations and the brand new EA WRC. Always use a wheel and never ever a controller. I first started with the chase view and with gaining experience overtime I've graduated to the cockpit and bonnet views. I think the cockpit view provides a more realistic experience because it's almost the same visual as driving real car. I also discovered that in chase view I had a tendency to miss my marks hitting the apex which usually meant driving way too deep into a corner. Cockpit view also reduces my tendency to over drive the car. I think if you try it and get used to it you will find your times going down. Last thing I thought of while watching the video is left seat vs right seat. From the cockpit it's a huge difference during cornering and hairpin braking. If you are an American who likes to Scandinavian Flick the right seat can be challenging. From the chase view driver seat placement isn't an issue.
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!
With two decades of sim rallying experience I would argue the FWDs are the most challenging cars to drive fast. Understeer is lethal.
@@janbo8331curious, but... am I the only one that seems to have a problem with front drive cars _OVERSTEERING_ ?
@@therayven3147That sounds interesting. Where do you struggle with oversteer exactly? Turn-in, mid corner or exit?
"laughs in bonnet view master race"
I don't really care what's "better." I just think it's more immersive and lets me see the nice interiors more.
I just switched to hood view instead of cockpit view for years for rally simulators. The less obstructed view helps a lot for gaining extra precision while scanning the track. Good video btw!
For me chase cam is only weird when you drive with a wheel, other than that i'm perfectly fine with it, depending on the physics i'll still prefer a static attached hood, dashboard/cockpit or roof-cam tho for the better feedback they provide over most chase cams.
Roof cameras in general are very underrated i think, you get the benefits of a hood or dashboard/cockpit camera while at the same time getting maximum visibility over your car's front end dimensions.
Cockpit camera really helped me learn how to smooth steer/roll steer on a controller. Being able to see how the wheel moves on the cockpit let me understand unrefined my steering movements were, and now I can take corners with a lot more precision and it also feels nicer to look at my own driving.
Many racing games have terrible cockpit cameras. Looking at you Forza. Unless I'm in VR I'd rather use bonnet cam, even bumper cam in some cases. Special mention to the second cockpit cam that removes the steering wheel and places the camera closer to the windshield. Now that's the ideal camera
I drove on chasecam all the time until recently.
I usually played more arcade style racing games like nfs or forza horizon.
But i started forza motorsport not long ago and by default the cam was in the cockpit, i decided to stick with it and give it a try, and i fell in love with it.
It's a lot more Immersive and i feel like it allows me to focus much more on the track in front of me then chase cam does.
If i will play forza horizon again where i tend to drift a lot, i will probably do that in chase mode.
But for track racing the cockpit is more fun i.m.o.
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.
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.