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.

Hey, Dan, welcome to the VRC.

 I think the setups are an important aspect of this style of racing. The series is quite cool in that you stay with the same car and really learn how to set it up for the quickest lap or laps on any particular track. Come up with a method during practice to dial in the car; the more you do this the faster the process will come.