Triple Small vs 1 Large Screen

ctlsleh

What is better 3 x 24" screens vs one larger screen like a 32-40" or does it need to be larger again?

Feedback appreciated

Dcully

A large curved ultrawide would be great as a single screen but triples beat a normal flat screen everytime.

Cerberus

I looked into this a few months ago when upgrading my sim rig setup. Based on my research, there is no single right answer to the question of which is better. It depends on a range of factors. If money is no concern and you mostly use the same sim title, and game for long periods of time, and have, or don't need a separate work space, then the current consensus appears to be that triple screens is the best setup. A high-end VR system will provide better immersion, but even for those who get used to the motion sickness, the consensus again seems to be that 40 mins is the longest you want to be playing with it due to comfort reasons. I think, ultimately, VR will be the best setup, but we'll have to wait for the next generation of both VR and PCs to solve all the current downsides.

A large curved monitor, even a 49" one, will be an exceptional experience but will still not provide you with the same situational awareness of triples. You're unlikely to seen both side mirrors unless you dial the FOV up considerably, and that will probable be to a level that will detrimentally affect your driving. You definitely won't see fully out both side windows like triples without pumping up the FOV drastically.

The downside with triples are:

• they can be a pain to set up, and can lose their settings for no reason
• they may need to be set up differently in different games
• they take up a huge amount of space and unlikely to double as a work space.
• they take a high-end PC to go beyond 1080p. Even at 1080p, your graphics card needs at least 3 display outputs

On the space issue, if you want the true triple screen experience, the screens need to be close to you and wrap around you. This, for most of my purposes, means that it just wasn't feasible to also use the screens for work. It'd be like working in a cocoon, and the central screen would be a lot smaller on its own than what you would ideally want for working.

In the end, I went with a 35" ultrawide that is mounted on a moveable multi-axis spring-loaded arm so I can easily and quickly pull it in to within 24" of my face when sim racing, sitting right behind the physical wheel on the rig. I can actually position it so that the wheel in the monitor is sitting directly behind the actual wheel.

Then, when not playing, I wheel the rig out, and I can swing the monitor to the back of the desk and it is a perfect monitor to work on. I could obviously have gone 49", but to get a similar spec to my G-Sync 1440p 120hz 35", I'd have had to spend the price of a high end PC. It wasn't a good value proposition for me.

.G.

I've got a 40 inch display and a VR headset. Once I used the headset for VR I could never go back to a screen. Have raced for hours in the headset with no issues apart from resolution not being so great so I have my pre order in for the HP Reverb G2.

Cerberus

Agreed, I think it will be the only show in town soon for sim gaming. But for now, the compromises are not a good value proposition for me personally. Maybe when there is one released that has the resolution of the Reverb G2 and the FOV and refresh of the Index, I'll jump then. It still feels like we're a generation away from it being perfect. It's good to have things to look forward to :-)

Dcully

Tried both VR and triple screens , not on my own setup so was only for a short while.
For me while VR is great i still prefer triple screens, most simracers i know especially those who do so for many hours dip in and out of VR but for simracing for long sessions its hard to beat triples or a large curved screen.
Very few use VR for league racing or streaming.
All options are very viable which is win win.