Setting up your rFactor FOV - Tutorial

After being kind of sceptic about it, I just gave it a try. I started with 15° and now I'm at 35°. What can I say, it's perfect! Driving feels soo much better now. Initially I had it set to 60°.
I'm talking about rF2 here though. If it matters.

Thanks so much for this tutorial! :D
 
I used to use 65-75...with a single 19" 4:3 monitor...

Moving FOV to 42 (which is not small enough, as I calculated it to be spot on at 21 with my racing rig and monitor) improved the consistency and car behavior a lot. Consistency= I can better replicate braking points and turning points each lap (I don't know, I better see lateral things used as marker points). Car behavior= the car, due to the perspective I think, seems a lot more "reactive"; with small wheel movement it seems to "turn more"; the result is that in general I turn the wheel less and I am more precise with less oversteer and tire wear (and I am a tire saver from the beginning of my racing experience).

I would like to decrease the FOV more, but 42 is the smaller FOV allowing me to see (at least part of) my wheels. I didn't try 21 yet, but I think that in an open wheeler car is important to see where your wheels are in regard to curbs and grass. Real formula drivers see where they are.
 
Thank you ZeosPantera for starting this thread. I've got rF2, had it at default or higher vFOV, and hadn't played in a few months. Then, I just got a 21:9 2560x1080 monitor, decided to get back into the game, and wondered how much I should "raise" the vFOV. After trying several settings, I then tried lowering vFOV to 42 (which surely isn't mathematically low enough; but less than default, I believe) after reviewing the diagrams in this thread - every turn now seems wider and less up to luck whether I properly hit the apex. My single-player practice sessions immediately starting hitting front of the pack at the same AI driver settings I had previously.
 
For this to work in rF2 do we need to make a custom cam patch for the mod we want it on?
 
Nope. rFactor2 has a universal FOV setting all the way down to 10° like I asked for. They even added universal seat pitch in the .PLR so you can adjust the Horizon line.
 
ZeosPantera said:
Nope. rFactor2 has a universal FOV setting all the way down to 10° like I asked for. They even added universal seat pitch in the .PLR so you can adjust the Horizon line.
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I did my measurements and came out with 28. I just couldn't drive like that, not judge distances, the sense of speed was totally lost. I would love to get what is on my screen 1:1 with real life though. Or perhaps just get an Oculus Rift :p
 
Go triple then :D 3x42" should give you enough horizontal FOV with 1:1, to feel speed again.
 
ZeosPantera said:
They even added universal seat pitch in the .PLR so you can adjust the Horizon line.
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I've noticed that in rF2, that most cars, if not all, have the default seat pitch set to 0.0, but I swear the in-game camera/eye point still looks like it's facing downwards rather than looking perfectly straight and completely parallel with the ground and I'm going insane trying to correct it....What do you think Pantera?
 
I am actually not sure if the mod can over-write the seat pitch if the PLR is set to default. I know that I changed it to look slightly up and put the horizon on the bottom 1/3rd of my screen and every mod obey's it. Try setting the PLR seat pitch to an extreme value and jump around a few mods. See if it sticks / looks the same.
 
Spinelli said:
I've noticed that in rF2, that most cars, if not all, have the default seat pitch set to 0.0, but I swear the in-game camera/eye point still looks like it's facing downwards rather than looking perfectly straight and completely parallel with the ground and I'm going insane trying to correct it....What do you think Pantera?
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How are you checking?

I'd change the glance left/right angle to pi/2 so you can look left/right (at 90°) and expect a horizontal object to look horizontal. Takes some of the guesswork and interpretation out of it. We're also probably asking the question of what 0.0 pitch actually means - if it's relative to the car body that might explain some variance.
 
Did something change in rf2? I can't find "X:\rFactor\GameData and in rfactor2\installed\vehicles I can't find any .cam file.
 
You no longer need to edit the cam's/you can't get to them. You can set the FOV down to 10° in game and adjust the view angle in the .plr
 
Hrm.. Mine is gone as well. It use to be D:\rFactor2Data\UserData\player and in there. But all I have is a .bak file. Now I have to do research.
 
Can't find "OrientationOffset" in the player.json

I found this:
"Head Physics":1,
"Head Physics#":"Fraction of head physics movement applied to cockpit view (position AND rotation)",
"Head Rotation":1,
"Head Rotation#":"Additional head physics multiplier affecting rotation only",

but I don't know how to set it, 0.x I assume, I use 26 fov with 1 monitor very close to me.
 
"Seat Pitch":6,
"Seat Pitch#":"Cockpit camera pitch orientation (degrees)",

Line 487
 
What about this line?

Look Up/Down Angle":0.4,
"Look Up/Down Angle#":"Angle to look up\/down (pitch) w\/ controller in radians (= degrees \/ 57)",
 
That's the amount the view will move when using 'look up' and 'look down' controls, not the normal position.
 
fov is only good for triple screen set up. to many ppl use fov to high for single screen to get a better view.
 
Loading the FOV from the default is still good for single screen. I wouldn't go as low/close to the 1:1 FOV on a single screen monitor, but i'd still lower it quite a bit from default.
 
Lazza you have suggested to do this.

I'd change the glance left/right angle to pi/2 so you can look left/right (at 90°) and expect a horizontal object to look horizontal.

Lazza can you elaborate a little on this please. I understand pi/2 but do not understand where the relationship to pi is coming from in this case. Are you saying just enter the value of (3.1412/2).
 
Spinelli said:
I've noticed that in rF2, that most cars, if not all, have the default seat pitch set to 0.0, but I swear the in-game camera/eye point still looks like it's facing downwards rather than looking perfectly straight and completely parallel with the ground and I'm going insane trying to correct it....What do you think Pantera?
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From testing this myself I have found that different mods use different orientation offsets. So basically seat pitch + orientation offset is the actual horizon setting. Meaning there is no one perfect seat pitch setting, it changes from mod to mod. Even ISI cars come with different setting, the kart and the vette are way different.
The method I've been using (I'd love your guys input on if this makes sense) is to measure my eye point and then while in the garage measure a AI eye level as they drive by me. Their eyes should be at my eye level, so for me thats 35 inches from the ground.
 
whitmore said:
Lazza you have suggested to do this.

I'd change the glance left/right angle to pi/2 so you can look left/right (at 90°) and expect a horizontal object to look horizontal.

Lazza can you elaborate a little on this please. I understand pi/2 but do not understand where the relationship to pi is coming from in this case. Are you saying just enter the value of (3.1412/2).
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It's simply a conversion from degrees to radians, 90° = pi/2 radians (there are 2*pi radians in 360°).
 
Slamfunk3 said:
The method I've been using (I'd love your guys input on if this makes sense) is to measure my eye point and then while in the garage measure a AI eye level as they drive by me. Their eyes should be at my eye level, so for me thats 35 inches from the ground.
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That is actually brilliant. You just need to level real life with them and you are gold. Would work even better if you clipped into a ghost car head-on and looked him in the face. Just make sure the seat is positioned right beforehand.
 
ZeosPantera said:
That is actually brilliant. You just need to level real life with them and you are gold. Would work even better if you clipped into a ghost car head-on and looked him in the face. Just make sure the seat is positioned right beforehand.
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Great idea with the ghost car, it didn't even cross my mind ha. The seat position doesn't actually affect the "outside" world (very minimal). Plus most of the time after a seat pitch adjustment the seat position has to be slightly changed as the position inside of the car changes itself. The biggest issue is to make sure the sim drivers helmet position is in the right spot. For example the ISI karts that even Tim mentioned the driver being too tall, or the ISI vette where personally i think the driver sits in there too high.
 
As I use Nvidia 3D I allways try to get the right eye position like the AI drivers next to me - so in the Historic Brabham I use the seat adjustements and using freelook to check the cars around me at the start line or sometimes I drive to the pitwall and check my hight.
Sometimes the seat change possibilities are not enough for my low FOV and free cam is not the best solution.
 
Slamfunk3 said:
From testing this myself I have found that different mods use different orientation offsets. So basically seat pitch + orientation offset is the actual horizon setting. Meaning there is no one perfect seat pitch setting, it changes from mod to mod. Even ISI cars come with different setting, the kart and the vette are way different.
The method I've been using (I'd love your guys input on if this makes sense) is to measure my eye point and then while in the garage measure a AI eye level as they drive by me. Their eyes should be at my eye level, so for me thats 35 inches from the ground.
Click to expand...

This could all be fixed if we had some camera setter option/program/app. It would be so simple and ABSOLUTELY perfect...

It would have a perfect side view, top view, and front facing view of the car you're in with the driver shown as well (the driver being shown is a must). There would be a tiny dot that we could move around. This dot is the exact spawning point for the player's cam/view point. You would ideally want to place this dot exactly between the driver's two eyeballs.

You would also be able to rotate the ball/cam left and right (in case you want it to be just a teeny, tiny, tiny bit looking left or right instead of perfectly, 100% straight) for cars that don't have a centre seating position. Most importantly though, you would also be able to rotate the ball/cam up and down. This would essentially be adjusting the pitch. We could then use the side view and adjust the pitch to be perfectly parallel with the ground if we like.

The tiny ball/cam would have 2 light, semi-transparent lines coming out from it, one going upwards and the other downwards, this reflects the vertical FOV you have currently set.

Everyone could then have an absolute perfect view in terms of how forward or back their "seat"/cam/eyepoint is, how high or low, left to right (this should already be fine in probably every car), and pitch (mostly up and down, but left and right as well).

DONE - Everyone will have the perfect view. It's kind of like the perfect FOV calculator, but for your viewpoint and seat-pitch position instead.

Man, there are so many times when people move their seat/eyepoint/cam way too forward or back when it's their high or low FOV that makes them think they're too far forward/back, but really their position is just about perfect.
Slamfunk3 said:
Great idea with the ghost car, it didn't even cross my mind ha. The seat position doesn't actually affect the "outside" world (very minimal). Plus most of the time after a seat pitch adjustment the seat position has to be slightly changed as the position inside of the car changes itself. The biggest issue is to make sure the sim drivers helmet position is in the right spot. For example the ISI karts that even Tim mentioned the driver being too tall, or the ISI vette where personally i think the driver sits in there too high.
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Seat position, helmet position, eye point, camera spawn point, all the exact same thing. They're just different names to adjust the point where your view gets created from, and expands outwards from there in the angle of the FOV you've chosen :)
 
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FOV is def the most important setting. If you dont have the real one set for yourself the other adjustments are always going to be guess work. That fair enough, I understand not everyone can have triples or even likes 1:1 view. As far as seat position, that one's actually easy. Just need some sort of a 3d modeling software :cool: Using the software just load up the helmet of the given car and there's your real life eye point. Problem is that not all moders use that eye point in the cockpit.ini and with the way rf2 is setup that tends to be a problem. From my testing the ISI cars are really close, like within 10-20mm. Then there's the seat pitch setting, I've had problems getting it right but I'm pretty happy with my new method.
I do like your idea for the app I just think the average racer doesn't care THAT much about it and for the more in depth (picky :p) of us the info is already there and not too hard to get. I'd love for someone to build your tool, don't know if there's enough interest for someone to do all the work unfortunately.
 
How do you translate the 35 inches into the game. If the height is set to AI level what does my eye height matter?
 
whitmore said:
How do you translate the 35 inches into the game. If the height is set to AI level what does my eye height matter?
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It's used to find what "seat pitch" should be set to in the player.json file. Have u messed around with it before? What you're trying to do is to match your horizon with the one rendered in game. The 35 inches is my horizon, my eye level. I change the "seat pitch" till the AI eyes are at that height on my screen. Hope that makes some kind of sense
 
Yeh have played with it way too much but still trying to perfect. Mostly have had it set to 6. I use 46" single LCD TV and a vision racer3 rig and Track IR (again) Had to go without for some time.

Since Track IR is useable again I have gone down to FOV 25 and seat pitch -3. With such a low FOV The -3 pitch allows me to keep view over the cars dash. I will be going through the whole routine again to get things setup.

I use the seat position a lot as well to get the best view out of the seat when looking left or right to avoid looking into the seat side pieces next to my head.

That is what took my interest with your looking at AI eye height. How do I check where the AI eye height is?

Have to do more with this to get what you are really trying to show what to do.

Picture is with -3 seat pitch
 
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So wait is your eye line where your eye is level with the screen? Normally you try and get the eye an inch or two above the Horizon. Center of monitor means nothing.
 
The centre of the monitor is basically the exact point from where the in-game view is spawning/being created from. There the centre of the monitor is the exact eyepoint and should be the exact point between your eyes as well, vertically and horizontally.

If your real-life eyes aren't centered with the monitor - verically and horizontally - and then you move the in-game eyepoint/cam/seat (same thing) to try to adjust for you sitting lower or higher than your monitor's centre, then all you're doing is messing up the perspective/view because no matter where you move the in-game view/seat/cam, the dead-centre point of your monitor is the point from where the view is being created/spawned from and that will never change.

So basically the dead-centre pixel of the screen should be the dead-centre point between the in-game driver's eyes. If you move this in-game point because your real-life eyes are lower or higher than the centre of the monitor, then your just going to be looking at an incorrect image on the monitor as the image being rendered will not be spawning from the correct point (between the in-game driver's eyes).
 
Spinelli said:
If your real-life eyes aren't centered with the monitor - verically and horizontally - and then you move the in-game eyepoint/cam/seat (same thing) to try to adjust for you sitting lower or higher than your monitor's centre, then all you're doing is messing up the perspective/view because no matter where you move the in-game view/seat/cam, the dead-centre point of your monitor is the point from where the view is being created/spawned from and that will never change.
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Which is why we've been talking about altering the "seat pitch" setting and not the seat adjustment. Seat pitch does in rf2 what seat orientation offset did in rf1. Which is to offset the rendered image to compensate for your eyes not being centered with the screen.
 
whitmore said:
Yeh have played with it way too much but still trying to perfect. Mostly have had it set to 6. I use 46" single LCD TV and a vision racer3 rig and Track IR (again) Had to go without for some time.

Since Track IR is useable again I have gone down to FOV 25 and seat pitch -3. With such a low FOV The -3 pitch allows me to keep view over the cars dash. I will be going through the whole routine again to get things setup.

I use the seat position a lot as well to get the best view out of the seat when looking left or right to avoid looking into the seat side pieces next to my head.

That is what took my interest with your looking at AI eye height. How do I check where the AI eye height is?

Have to do more with this to get what you are really trying to show what to do.

Picture is with -3 seat pitch
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With your eyes being below the center of the monitor positive numbers is what you should be using to bring the rendered horizon down to your eye level. The draw back will b that because your eyes are so low "proper" set up might cause you to not be able to see the cars dashboard at all. One of the reasons I have my screens lower then my eyes, I like to see more of the dash. The 46 inch screen might help with that tho.
 
Have a peak at my old post https://community.racesimcentral.net/showthread.php/723-Horizon-Line-You-re-doing-it-wrong as I go over horizon line at nausea. I may want to recreate these posts into a modern RF2 way. Since things are much simpler now but math and setup is still required.

HorizonLines.jpg
 
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