Why wide game cameras warp the edges
A game’s field of view (FOV) is the angular slice of the virtual world shown on screen. Widen it, and the camera must fit more of that world into the same rectangle. To do so, the game uses perspective projection: nearby directions are mapped onto screen positions using a relationship that spreads them farther apart as they approach the edges.
That mapping is why the center can look fairly normal while the sides seem stretched. A character moving near the edge may appear to slide or grow unusually fast, and walls or floors can look as though they’re pulling away. The game is not necessarily enlarging those objects; it is showing more of the surrounding space through a perspective view that becomes increasingly distorted toward its margins.
The tradeoff behind a higher setting
A wider view can help players spot action arriving from the side, but it also makes objects look smaller near the center because more of the scene has to fit on screen. Peripheral movement can feel exaggerated, too, which may make turning or running seem faster than it does at a narrower setting.
The effect depends on the display and on how the game defines FOV. Some settings describe the horizontal view, others the vertical view, so the same number can produce different results on screens with different shapes. A high FOV buys more peripheral awareness by sacrificing a more natural-looking view at the edges. That is why the broadest setting is not automatically the most comfortable one.
