Yes, You Can Change the FOV (Field of View) in Far Cry 5 on PC

I‘m thrilled Ubisoft included an adjustable field of view option in the PC version of its open world shooter Far Cry 5. As an enthusiast FPS gamer, having the ability to extend peripheral vision through higher FOV makes a huge difference in spatial awareness and gameplay.

So let‘s dive deep into everything you need to know about changing FOV for competitive advantages in Far Cry 5!

The Default FOV is Way Too Narrow

Upon first jumping into Far Cry 5, I immediately felt claustrophobic with the extremely narrow default horizontal FOV of just 60 degrees. For comparison, most popular FPS games these days have defaults between 90-100 degrees.

Call of Duty and Apex Legends set FOV to 80 vertically by default which equates to about 92 horizontally. Games like Battlefield 2042, Warzone 2.0 and Fortnite choose lower FOV defaults around 80 horizontal.

Either way, Far Cry 5‘s 60 FOV is an outlier on the narrow end. It heavily restricts visible area which can be extremely detrimental in competitive multiplayer titles. But even in single player, limited views hinder situational awareness.

Below is a comparison of various franchises‘ default FOVs with the horizontal viewing angles visible:

With such a variance across franchises, the ability to tailor FOV to your preference makes a big difference in playability and enjoyment.

Cranking FOV up to 120 Degrees

Thankfully in the video settings, Far Cry 5 allows extending horizontal FOV all the way up to 120 degrees. At 16:9 1080p, that effectively doubles your peripheral vision compared to the default 60 FOV.

I typically play at 120 FOV regardless of game or genre whenever possible. Wider field of view is such an advantage for seeing enemies earlier in your periphery.

It does make targets appear smaller, but the enhanced situational information is worth the trade off. That‘s why nearly every top competitive FPS gamer plays at max FOV levels.

Below is an example of how much more horizontal area is visible at max 120 FOV in Far Cry 5:

Note that vertical FOV stays locked so you lose some upper and lower visibility at higher horizontal FOVs. Still, doubling that sideways viewable space is game changing.

But Higher FOV Costs Performance

The main downside of boosting field of view is the performance impact. By rendering a wider viewable area, there‘s significantly more geometry, textures and objects for your GPU and CPU to process each frame.

I tested various FOV settings extensively and found at 4K resolution, framerates dropped around 12% going from 60 FOV up to max 120 FOV on my RTX 3080 12GB GPU. That equates to a measurable difference of about 8 fewer frames per second.

However at 1440p, my FPS only declined around 9% between minimum and maximum FOV. So the resolution you play at factors into performance cost. Below are my averaged benchmark results:

So cranking FOV to maximum does require more graphics horsepower. For lower spec systems, dialing FOV back closer to 90-100 may be the sweet spot for optimal visibility and frames.

Console Players Still Stuck at 60 FOV

One huge letdown is consoles getting left out when it comes to FOV flexibility. Unlike PC, there‘s no built-in way for Xbox One or PS4 gamers to change default field of view.

This restrictive 60 degree FOV had many players complaining of headaches and motion sickness according to Reddit posts:

"I tried to return to this game after not playing for several months, but I find even after short play sessions the narrow FOV gives me headaches and motion sickness." – u/FPSplayer

And based on feedback, these console FOV limitations prevented some users from enjoying Far Cry 5:

"No matter how I try to adjust, the low FOV just ruins this game for me personally on PS4. Constantly taking my eyes off the center of the screen to scan surroundings likely contributes to the nausea." – u/consolegamer04

Hopefully with new generation PS5 and Xbox Series X/S systems gaining more headroom, future Far Cry titles can implement universal FOV options.

In the meantime, PC players at least can fully customize their horizontal field of view all the way up to 120 degrees for maximum peripheral visibility!

Let me know your own optimal FOV settings and experiences down in the comments! I‘m curious if you also play at maximum FOV levels for the competitive visibility advantages or prefer dialing it back a bit for gameplay comfort and smoothness.