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OpenFOV – Webcam head tracking for iRacing

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Re: OpenFOV – Webcam head tracking for iRacing

#41

Post by jabroni_salad »

cubefox wrote: post #30
Mashimo wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The way it currently works doesn't really make sense And yet, sim players are using it. Players want to use small headmovements to simulate large head movements ingame. It seems to work.

Wouldn't it be much more convenient then to buy a VR headset which actually follows your head movements because it's physically head mounted? Not to mention that it provides a stereoscopic view of the scenery. I guess the price is a hurdle.

I tried to play Elite Dangerous in VR. It is a very nice game to do that with but personally I found the heavy HMD got uncomfortable inside of a half hour, and I had difficulty reading text. It's fine for combat missions but if I want to design a trade route I'd rather just use my normal monitor.

The other problem is that I have a fancy throttle and stick with lots of extra buttons and switches. I know common functions by touch but if I wanna toggle exterior lights or something I have to look down and find a label.

For me choosing a screen + head tracking vs VR is like choosing to use speakers instead of headphones. The headphones sound way nicer and give much more immersive soundscapes but sometimes you want to have some tunes going and not have your ears get sweaty.

Re: OpenFOV – Webcam head tracking for iRacing

#42

Post by Saris »

cubefox wrote: post #30
Mashimo wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The way it currently works doesn't really make sense And yet, sim players are using it. Players want to use small headmovements to simulate large head movements ingame. It seems to work.

Wouldn't it be much more convenient then to buy a VR headset which actually follows your head movements because it's physically head mounted? Not to mention that it provides a stereoscopic view of the scenery. I guess the price is a hurdle.

VR headsets that are any good are quite expensive so price is definitely a factor I think. Plus they introduce a lot of eye fatigue and you have to wear something on your head which gets tiring.

Re: OpenFOV – Webcam head tracking for iRacing

#43

Post by Saris »

numpad0 wrote: post #17

...why would webcam head tracking need a new standalone vibecoded project? I thought there are plenty of those already.

Why not? Such as?

Sometimes it's just fun to make something, avoiding it just because said thing already exists in some form is silly.

Re: OpenFOV – Webcam head tracking for iRacing

#44

Post by engineer_22 »

Foxhuls wrote: post #16
itsthecourier wrote: post #2

when your head move, and with it your eyes, you move what's in front of them to your perspective inside the simulation, just as VR works but in this case it is detrimental because the screen is fixed, the natural behavior would be not to move it or at least do very little with it like a parallax the current demo would cause nausea after a moment

This is a good example of having sound logic but not understanding the actual use case. It's simply a way to add functionality in a way to attempt to mimic what humans are capable of in a game. Not everyone wants to or is capable of using VR for various reasons. This allows you to use a slight physical movement of your head to replace using a mouse to move the camera, primarily in flight and racing simulators. That m…

Is there a reason eye tracking can't work or doesn't work?

Re: OpenFOV – Webcam head tracking for iRacing

#46

Post by Freaky »

arrowleaf wrote: post #38
Freaky wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

opentrack would be the one to beat these days: https://github.com/opentrack/opentrack It's completely replaced my TrackIR 5, since it averts the need to wear headphones and dig out the tracking bracket every time I want to use it, and the accuracy feels about the same. I found head tracking pretty much becomes second-nature after a while - to the point at which it feels weird to play first-person sims without it. Not…

Do you really prefer webcam + opentrack over the trackir? Asking because I literally have a trackir on the way to me in the mail, and most discussions I could find were at least 2-3 years old.

I guess so, given I have my TrackIR in a box!

That said, I have had issues with opentrack that involved some mildly irritating troubleshooting. Namely X4: Foundations didn't work properly with the standard freetrack output regardless of how I configured it, and I ended up needing to use "UDP over network".

I've never had a comparable problem with TrackIR, in spite of using it with a wider variety of titles over a longer period. I do kinda like having it as a backup in case more intractable problems crop up.

Re: OpenFOV – Webcam head tracking for iRacing

#47

Post by Freaky »

itsloopyo wrote: post #33
Freaky wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

opentrack would be the one to beat these days: https://github.com/opentrack/opentrack It's completely replaced my TrackIR 5, since it averts the need to wear headphones and dig out the tracking bracket every time I want to use it, and the accuracy feels about the same. I found head tracking pretty much becomes second-nature after a while - to the point at which it feels weird to play first-person sims without it. Not…

Head tracking's great, the reasons it became a niche thing are easy to overcome in 2026. I've been churning out loads of decoupled look+aim head tracking mods for non-sims with this in mind (all OpenTrack compatible) - https://github.com/itsloopyo#the-mods

Ooh, awesome. I was literally just thinking the other day that it was a shame on-foot head tracking games pretty much started and ended with ArmA 3, because it's great both for situational awareness, and for just plain gawping at stuff.

Will definitely be trying out some of those :)

Re: OpenFOV – Webcam head tracking for iRacing

#48

Post by numpad0 »

Saris wrote: post #43
numpad0 wrote: post #17

...why would webcam head tracking need a new standalone vibecoded project? I thought there are plenty of those already.

Why not? Such as? Sometimes it's just fun to make something, avoiding it just because said thing already exists in some form is silly.

I mean, completely ignoring prior researches can be a bit disingenuous.

Re: OpenFOV – Webcam head tracking for iRacing

#50

Post by Computer0 »

engineer_22 wrote: post #44
Foxhuls wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a good example of having sound logic but not understanding the actual use case. It's simply a way to add functionality in a way to attempt to mimic what humans are capable of in a game. Not everyone wants to or is capable of using VR for various reasons. This allows you to use a slight physical movement of your head to replace using a mouse to move the camera, primarily in flight and racing simulators. That m…

Is there a reason eye tracking can't work or doesn't work?

If you use eye tracking to control head movement then the head will move past where the eyes were looking.
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