One time I played a Driving simulator with a group of friends who insisted that the camera show the car in 3rd person view while I tend to drive in first person view.
I never understood the request of the camera placement when driving a simulator.

Real driving is a 1st person view experience. So, I noticed that players who used the 1st person view mode won more races.

Later I decided to pop in Fallout New Vegas to show off my character build and noticed that they all then decided to play that game in 1st person view mode. While I enjoyed the 3rd person perspective camera more in that game.

Any one who has a tale to tell on this puzzle would be welcome.
I find it odd that the camera placement is an issue with todays game experience.

If I like your post enough?
I might pay out a hundred or so vizz points.

Thank You For Your Time.

Good Luck To All.
Peace.

orionfoxgibson :

I think that it has to do with how in third person, you get a wider view. I mean, with our eyes in the real world, we can see 180 degrees in front of us. A television screen puts that in a box. . .

Although first person is more exhilarating, (And I loved doing first person in Star Fox 64). It limits your side to side views. So unless your playing something like Star Wars Battlefront II, where you can adjust the mouse sensitivity and turn around very quickly, it kindof puts you at a disadvantage. I'm not sure why 3rd person was so much better all of the sudden. Technically, in most situations I would think that 3rd person would be better, because of the wider view, at least for racing games. First person, (at least until I can get used to it.) really throws me off for most games, just cause I'm not used to it.

Technically, as far as racing games go I would think that third person would be the way to go.

My guess is the physics were different for the game you were playing, and that's why you had to change views.

It's all in the angle.  In real life, I play football (American, specifically) in first person.  I could not imagine trying to play Madden or NCAA first person.

The wide angle or the long angle, even in driving games, gives you a better field of view and lets you see what's next to you, behind you to some degree, and down the road.  First person is okay but third person is an advantage if you know what you're doing.  The same goes for shooters.  I'd prefer the version like Mercenaries where I can control from above.  I strongly dislike first person because it takes away so much of the ambient environment.  There is a lot to see besides bad guys and you can't always enjoy it when it's first person.

But to each their own.  If it works, keep doing it.

Good Answers.
I might Add Racing Game Video's to my Youtube channel To demonstrate.
The Thing about Racing is that after the race starts? You get a fair Idea on how fast or how many seconds a car passes by before the lane is clear to change into.
As for the vehicles behind?
Check out the Rear View Mirror Box.
The edge that "F.P.S." Driving gives you is the ability to take the turns better when you are in the second place to lead positions.
(For Me Anyway.)
I agree with everyone's points on 3rd person perspective when playing a character.
There are just too many missed moments to be had if the experience is limited to "F.P.S."


Thank You All For The Feedback.

Good Luck To All.
Peace.

I've always felt that... compared to the gamers I know... I'm a bit backwards.  Like you, orionfoxgibson,  I definitely prefer first person when playing racing games.  I think it just adds more fun for me, as I suck at video games anyways.  Being able to 'see more' or gain strategic advantage is never going to be at the top of my priority list.

However, in other games like Fallout 3, I prefer 3rd person. I feel like I can see more and enjoy more.  I -want- to see where my weapons and arms are, or what's to my sides.  I guess the difference might be that... in a racing game... I don't really care whats on my sides.

The Cool part about racing games?
There are only a limited number of Cars that are on the road.
If everyone is accountd for in the front and rear views?
The lane you want to change over is clear.
(I wish it was that way in real life. I hate glancing over my shoulder and blind spots.)

Good Answers Everyone.

Good Luck To All.
Peace.

In a racing game, I like the close 3rd person look. But, in shooters and RPGs, I think I prefer the First Person view. However, I like the 3rd person in Gears of War and Halo. If a game is made to be 3rd person, then that's how I like it. 

I've found that I always like what's most practical. When I'm playing a racing game or a game like Assassin's Creed where there's a lot of moving around, I prefer 3rd person so I can see around me. But when I'm playing a game like Halo where I need to aim, first person is better. In Skyrim, a game that lets you choose between the two, I always play first person as I use bow and arrow and need to aim. If I try to fire an arrow in third person, I usually end up firing in the wrong direction altogether.

I normally like the camera to be in the 3rd person view most of the time because I'm so used to it being that way. I don't play a lot of 1st person shooters so I've never really had to use that view.

This depends on what type of game I'm playing.

If I'm playing a racing game, I usually like to have in third person view so I can see my surroundings better. I like to know exactly where my opponents are when I'm racing . If I am looking for a challenge, then I like to put the camera into first person mode and see how long it takes me before I crash xD. Usually my friends and I will have a competition to see who can go the longest without crashing, and I usually lose xD.

In shooting games, I like to have the camera in first person mode. It makes it so much easier to see where you are shooting and what not. This is for games more based toward Call of Duty type games, because GTA really doesn't fit as a shooting game in my opinion. GTA is a game where you can run around and basically do whatever you want, so I don't care that it's a third person camera. 

If I'm playing any game that includes free roam, it should definitely be in third person. That's my opinion, but if you're playing a game that has free roam in it, then you most likely need to see as much as possible about what's around you. If you can't see all around you, the game isn't usually as fun and that makes me not like the game as much.

In the end, it all just depends on what type of game I am playing .

For most games, I like 1st person better. Especially sandbox games. In games like Minecraft, the third person view is terrible. In a game like Skyrim, third person is decent. It's only first person that seems to be a consistently better way to play.

Like everyone else, the big exception to playing 1st person is racing games. I've always played them in third person. When I'm going at ridiculously high speeds, I like to see as much of the area around the car as I can.

I definitely agree with warmaker here. Using third-person view gives a clear view of the sides and front of you, which is important in a lot of games. However, the first person view is more realistic, and therefore has a better feel to it and generally results in me doing better. I really wish that first person views in racing games would allow the driver to turn his head, so he can check those blind spots. If that were possible (and I'm sure it is in some games, just haven't found them yet), then the first person view would be immensely superior to third person view. As it is, people really value being able to see what's beside them, so third person view is rather popular.

I prefer first person view, if it wasn't clear. I'll still choose third person sometimes, though, for safety's sake.

I Like All Of The Answers.

Keep Them comming in folks.
Try to explain more.
I like reading about all of this.

Good Luck To All.
Peace.

I always like third person best. My reasoning is simple: it's more realistic in the field of vision in my opinion. You see, as Sword Legion mentioned, our eyes have a (I'm told) 200 degree field of view (180 at the very least) and playing first person limits that view to about ninety degrees which means an enemy can stand beside me and I'd never know it.

Perhaps a good example is when I was playing a Zombie shooter in first person one time. I killed all zombies that I saw, yet my health kept dropping. Immediately I panicked and began spinning in circles trying to find the offending fiend. Half a health meter (and several turn arounds) later, I looked down and saw a zombie chewing on my ankle.

Seriously? How was that realistic? In real life I can see my feet while looking straight ahead, but in a first person game I can't see below my nose...or maybe my chin at best. The elimination of peripheral vision kills the game for me.

And finally in first person mode I feel like I'm only three feet tall. lol Maybe it's just me, but I feel so short and struggle to see where I really am. Not to mention my love for exploration in games kills any interest I could have in a first person view since I can't see the environment as well.

That said, I do like to have the ability to switch to first person if I want a close up view of something in a game, but I never enjoy playing a game from that angle.

Good thread by the way.

It mostly depends on what I'm playing really, but most of the time, I would normally go with 3rd person. But there is a couple of games I do really need a first person view (like Minecraft) because my body can sometime get in the way on what I'm doing, but that's mostly it, if my body don't create any interference, then I'll use 3rd person view.

I prefer third person since it is much easier to see enemies and/or helpful items that could be right next to you and/or behind you. Plus, I'd love to see my character kicking bad guy butt !

2D side scrolling

In all seriousness. It all depends on the game. For instance Half-Life, I enjoy being in first person, same with Doom, or Bulletstorm, Duke Nukem, etc. Then are games like Max Payne, GTA, Manhunt, that I like being in the third person view. Especially if you can move the camera round, look behind you, and so on.

I like Third-Person shooters, but I'm not a big fan of some First-Person games... On the other hand, it adds to the overall experience of the game. I like to play Racing Games in Third-person, Some shooters in First, some in third. 

For me, it depends on how they made it, stealth needs to be third-person, shooters do FPS better, while some have a perfect third-person perspective. 

When it comes to racing games, I tend to play in third person. But, if it's a shooter, I tend to like playing in first person, unless the game is build for third person, like Gears of War or Halo is. 

I prefer to play racing (outside of Mario Kart, at least) or other "simulation" style games in 1st person, because that's honestly the intended view, I think. It's supposed to be a simulation, ergo it needs to be first person. I don't know about you, but I've never met anyone who saw by having a pair of eyeballs floating about 8 feet behind and above their head.  If it's a sim, it's supposed to mimic real life to an extent, and using third person point of view damages your ability to react properly.

HOWEVER, for games like Fallout or pretty much any RPG I can think of, I do not like first person POV. The games are designed to function best in third person, and you need the extra range of view, usually, especially in open world scenarios. At least, you do if you don't want to die constantly by something sneaking up silently behind you. It's not designed to be a sim, it's designed for you to try to simply stay alive, and that is best done by using third person. Plus generally the controls are mapped more accurately for third person POV and trying to use first person nets you more misses than hits in combat, for example.

Games like Half Life 2 and other shooters can go either way, depending on the person's preferences. I personally think I would do a lot better in Half Life 2 if there was the option for a third person POV, because my 'aim the gun, then SHOOT the gun' ability SUCKS in first person, despite all the years I've played.