It's supposed to be a simulation of a race car, so if you race your actual race car on the bumper or on the roof or on the dash board ....  good for you. I think most race car drivers sit in the cockpit. I'm not a real race car driver but I pretend by using the cockpit view.

I also change the FOV per track to get the best view of what the track surface looks like. Very important to be able to anticipate what to do, rather than react to turns, brows, etc... that are hard to decipher till you're right on top of them.