Since the first Forza Game ----> Hood Cam
You can’t possibly imagine what you give up by not using cockpit view. At first it will be weird and you’ll think you’re getting less, but once you get used to it… OMG it truly becomes amazing. It’s the most realistic of them all, specially on PC where you can adjust the FOV and get great view on most cars. I also turn off all the HUD options. I mean nothing at all. Not even the map, not even the speedometer. Full realism. Both in racing and free-roam. I’m telling you unless you use cockpit view you don’t get the full forza experience. At first it seems like you’re loosing the eye candy, but after a while you start noticing way more details and focusing only on the road and what surrounds you. It’s even more beautiful this way.
I also use full stock specs always (apart from some fast&furious builds). I know most people modify the hell out of everything, but for me this isn’t just a great racing game, no. For me this game is the closest I get to express my passion and love for cars. I always watch reviews of cars and then go and drive them in forza full-stock to see if what I’ve seen on video is what I feel while driving in game. And most of the times the similarities are amazing. If only more people would see this game as I see it! There’s so much more to this game if you appreciate each car for what it is. A Porsche 911 GT2RS 997, a Ferrari F50, an Aston DB11. So much character to each and every car. After beating the game, what I did was to memorize the best roads on the map. Now I pretty much completed my car collection and all I do is drive the car that I feel like driving on the best roads in the game. Without even using HUD. No need to! When the drive is done I park my car in my mansion outside Edinburgh, since I’m a billionaire, and call it a day.
I guess to each their own!
4 Likes
Props for driving the stock cars! 
In high-powered cars I tend to do the same. S2 class is simply way too broken when you have to completely change your car’s character to reach top of the class.
For other classes I’m finding that limiting myself to Sport upgrades and no conversions for 95% of my cars makes the game more fun to me. Cars that start in D or C are simply too underpowered/undertired IMO.
2 Likes
First, of course.
I only got into third-person to hear or look at the cars.
1 Like
Chase far. Have never changed default views in racing games.
Bumper, game keeps changing it to 3rd person.
First person 99% of time, sound detail is there, sense of speed with a subtle wind effects as well as interior sound effects with small cranks, gear changing clicking and so on.
The level of detail is unmatched there, It’s almost impossible to go back to 3RD and when the cockpit cam is not well aligned, I simply refuse to drive it. (Im looking at you Saleen Raptor 
)
2 Likes
While I enjoy the occasional 1st person view, 95% of the time I use the 3rd person(chase-close). I like seeing the outside of the car, just a matter of preference but it also makes it easier to know exactly when I am going to hit another car/obstacle or not, I feel it makes it easier to tell. But mostly I just prefer this view, I like seeing my car while I control it.
Chase Far most of the time.
I’ve tried switching among the views & my performance would tank in first person. Too many hills, bumps, drops, jumps & blind spots to efficiently make my way through a race without too many mistakes.
1 Like
Bumper cam with G29 wheel and 34" monitor PC.
Dash view with no hud (speedo off, map off, skills off, etc) for road and dirt series, chase far with map and speedo for any off road series, dash view with full hud for grip free roam, chase far with just speedo for drifting.
Forza Motorsport Cockpit for realism and its just better overall. I enjoy the further sense of immersion.
Forza Horizon - Far chase cam. Too many bumps/hills/obstacles/rammers/etc and it gives me the best"overall view" of my surroundings. If there were more B/C/D class races I would go back to Cockpit.
1 Like
I was about to post almost this exact thing, and saw someone beat me to it.
I love cockpit view, but in horizon games I need to see my surroundings alot more
I love the immersion of the cockpit, but on tracks like the Indy Grand Prix, I just can’t seem to time the curves properly in the cockpit without being able to naturally turn my head. I find if I use the stick to change the view my driving suffers. If VR is ever viable I’d go back to cockpit. I can drive some tracks as fast as chase view on some tracks but I’m too lazy to change frequently.
For older Horizon versions I was switching frequently for as you pointed out, offroad or tracks with lots of blind turns especially in faster classes. On Horizon 4 I’ve been 100% chase view and am generally winning all races in Expert or higher with ease (except the dam offroad buggies) and I know it’s the chase view that is helping me but I do miss the immersion of the cockpit view.
I usually go with the chase far view for racing. Hood cam isn’t bad, but the far chase provides a lot more situational awareness when you’re fighting through the pack. Cockpit view is fun sometimes just for cruising and lets me get a feel for the fit and finish of the car, but the poor visibility limits its usefulness in racing.
About a third of the time use the close dashboard and then “over the hood” rest of the time. Never used chase or “3rd” person, just breaks the experience for me. Will do full cockpit when first driving any vehicle. At least on console, the restricted field of view is the issue; then again, I exclusively used cockpit in the TDU games. maybe it is just me eyes getting old…
…
Behind the wheel. Of course, behind the wheel. Big TV, sitting close, it’s the most realistic. Yes chase cam gives you a better view of the road ahead and can be useful for tuning, but from behind the wheel you can feel the road. Every bump. And you can feel how it needs to be tuned. More realistic. I prefer to feel like I’m driving rather than mario kart remote controlling.
It’s also easier for me to execute the small steering inputs. In chase cam, the trade off for having that perspective is being far away. So moving a foot left in a lane seems a lot less delicate than when I’m 30 feet away from the car.
And on visibility … if you ever raced with a helmet on in real life but weren’t big shot enough to be racing somewhere with a spotter, you can only see a tiny sliver of the world and you can’t turn your head much. I can see enough in the game, and I think a lot of the unintentional mp crashing is people too focused on the area around the car instead of focusing on the road and holding a line.
1 Like
It depends on my mood. I did all of FH3 in far chase, but then got really into the full immersion of cockpit/no HUD in FH4. Now, I’ll change it by mood or race; it’s certainly more competitive in cross country events to use chase cam, for example, because of the situational awareness. If you’re interested in immersion – nothing beats a wheel/pedals in cockpit view with no HUD on a big TV with headphones.
I’m a sucker for cockpit view…whether or not I leave the hands visible depends on the windshield of the particular car and how much I can see. The only time I go third person is when I’m doing barn hunts/treasure hunts. It’s too crazy making to stay first person for that.
1 Like