Hello There, Guest! Register



Thread Rating:
  • 0 Vote(s) - 0 Average
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
Wireless wheel / Projector FOV
#1
Lightbulb 
Has anyone found a solution to having your wheel a fair distance from your computer? I've been off SRS for over a year due to a house move which needed lots of renovations and a new baby. I've always used my living room projector setup rather than have a dedicated room or setup for it. Just drag out my wheel (old Fanatec, possibly 911 I can't remember) and pedals (think first version Fanatec) mounted on their DIY timber frame, plug in and go.

In the new house my computer is about 12 ft behind the sofa. Between the back of the sofa and the computer is a walkway that I'd rather not block even temporarily for a race. I can get a powered USB hub to bridge the gap so the cable run isn't too far but that would still cross the walk way.

Does anyone know any cable free options?
Reply
#2
Nevermind, a USB cable will have to do. I believe I can go up to 5m long with a USB cable so I may get a longer one.

I tried it from the sofa but 4m back from a 10 foot screen (3m) gives a fairly low FOV. It seemed right at about 38. Acceptable but I'm going to try getting under 3m from it to allow me to increase the FOV.

The problem with large screens is that when you sit close - whatever the FOV - the scale is way off. Like the steering wheel is probably 50% larger that it should be. Does anyone else use a projector setup? If so, what sort of distance and FOV do you go for?

Thinking about it I may try ignoring the FOV calculators and just trying to get the best compromise I can to get the steering wheel to appear the same size, if that makes sense. I don't normally have the virtual wheel showing but I could use it to get the scale closer to 1:1. See how that compares to having technically correct FOV but incorrect scale. Could end up going for somewhere in the middle of the two settings.
Reply
#3
Are you sure you calculated your FOV correct? with a screen like that you should get a huge FOV, like on a 21:9 display. With a correct FOV you wheel should always be about as big as it would be in real life.

Maybe your FOV is correct but you still need to move the virtual camera/seat more to the back?
Amazing list of awesome achievements: 5th Lotus 25 2018, 4th DRM 2019, 5th Williams FW14 vs. Ferrari 643 2019, 3rd Ferrari 312T vs. Lotus 72D 2020
Reply
#4
Sorry for the delay in replying. Yeah, I calculated the FOV using an online calculator. None of them are suitable for projector screen sizes but you can divide the screen size and the distance by the same amount to scale down. In this case I've halved the screen size and distance:
[Image: fovcalc.png]
This gives a vertical FOV of 26 degrees. This looks like this:
[Image: 26degrees.jpg]
I can go up to 32 degrees and still look ok though:
[Image: 32degrees.jpg]
So the perspective sort of looks ok I guess. But the scale is still off. Like if I had the drivers arms on his hands would be twice the size of mine.
I don't know if the geometrically correct FOV is actually correct in all cases.. With a screen this big it would be good to get some more peripheral vision.
Reply
#5
oh, I didn't get the distance you have to your screen at first

Yes. That's just how it is. For a correct FOV at that distance your "virtual eyes" have to zoom in a lot. Therefore everything in the foreground gets huge and everything looks out of scale.

In that case I'd just try to get a FOV you're comfortable with even if it's technically wrong.
Amazing list of awesome achievements: 5th Lotus 25 2018, 4th DRM 2019, 5th Williams FW14 vs. Ferrari 643 2019, 3rd Ferrari 312T vs. Lotus 72D 2020
Reply
#6
Ah fair enough. The zoom thing makes sense. To be technically correct I'd probably have to zoom even further but then the scale is ridiculous.

I've tried it much closer (feet almost touching the screen) before but run into different issues. Could be worse I guess, I could be on a single 12" laptop screen or something.

It would be good to have a 3 screen setup at some point. But that would have to be in one of my sheds or something. I'd also need a dedicated computer and would have to buy 3 monitors. A big commitment for something I never have enough time to use.
Reply
#7
Sounds like the perfect use case for VR
Reply
#8
Yeah maybe. Though a VR setup would still need a new computer. Or at least a replacement CPU for my 2012 i5 and a replacement GPU for my GTX 660. Plus the cost of the headset itself. I imagine all that would come to a similar cost as a triple screen setup? Then it would be down to preference wouldn't it?

I'm pretty time poor at the minute with my baby son. Also cash poor too, operating on £50/month disposable income that I hope to get at least 1 track day at Cadwell or Donington Park from, along with fresh tyres. My wheel/pedal/stand setup has only cost me £100 all up so I've been really lucky with how much use I've gotten out of it.
Reply


Forum Jump:


Users browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)