Monitor position set by in-game FOV?

[R8pilot]

I was thinking about the optimum placement of a monitor. Ideally, you want the perspective to be natural - as you would see it in real life - but what does that mean?

One approach is to position the monitor such that its field of view (an angle from your eye to the sides of the monitor) matches the in-game field of view. Then the proportions of in-game assets should match the view as if you were sitting in the car.

If done right, that implies that the in-game wheel is the same size and on top of (or immediately behind) the real wheel, or else it's larger in proportion to how much further back the monitor is. Farther away means you need a bigger monitor.

Let's say the in-game FOV is 90 degrees and you want one eye to form that same angle to the full width of the monitor. This forms a right triangle with your monitor's width as the hypotenuse. The distance to the center of the monitor would then be 1/2 the hypotenuse. In other words, place your monitor half of its width away.

So with a 90 degree in-game FOV, for a 27" monitor, your distance should be about 14". That's too close, as a proportional physical wheel would be tiny, and likely held behind the screen, even. Also, a lot of people would feel uncomfortable without more eye relief.

I am using a 55" TV as a monitor, which would mean about 28" to the monitor's center; perhaps right behind the wheel. That's getting more practical. A larger 65" TV would require about 33"; perhaps just behind the wheelbase.

So the best single, flat setup is the largest and highest-resolution panel you can get. Next stop 75" 8k!

Does this make sense?

 

[Emery]

If done right, that implies that the in-game wheel is the same size and on top of (or immediately behind) the real wheel, or else it's larger in proportion to how much further back the monitor is.

The fallacy here is that all in-game steering wheels have the same dimensions AND that all players have that size of gaming wheel, but you should quickly realize this is not true.

 

[RasmusP]

Your thoughts all seem correct to me.
It's what all the fov calculators do.

In theory you'd want to put the biggest screen available as close to you as possible and then use the fov calculator.

Then you'd need the disable the virtual steering wheel (but keep the shaft visible) and move your virtual sheet forward until your real steering wheel would fit on the virtual shaft (cut off from the camera and the not-visible part of the shaft would be in the air between monitor and your real wheel.

This would simulate yourself sitting in the car.

There's someone on YouTube who did this with greenscreens and VR, putting the viewer inside the car:

You'd want your perspective to be identical to this.

And from just a photo instead of video editing:
You'd want this:

And NOT this:

But without the long F1 nose and instead the monitors way closer and in a closed car.