Transport Fever 3: How to Ride in the Cockpit of a Vehicle (First-Person View)

Transport Fever 3 lets you drop down to the driver’s seat of a vehicle on your map and watch the route roll past at eye height. The camera button that does it sits inside the vehicle’s own window, so you reach it the moment you select a vehicle running out in the world.

Quick answer: Select the vehicle on the map to open its window, select the camera button in the lower-left corner of the live view at the top of that window (its tooltip reads “Enter Cockpit”), and press Esc to leave.

A Horse Carriage is selected on the road, the camera button “Enter Cockpit” in its window switches to the driver’s view, the view is turned left and right with A and D, and Esc returns to the map.

How to enter the cockpit view in Transport Fever 3

Click the vehicle on the map to open its window in the upper-right corner. The title displays its name, such as “Road Vehicle 1”.

A horse-drawn wagon on a forest dirt road with the vehicle icon selected on the bottom toolbar — Selecting the Horse Carriage on the country road.

The window’s upper section shows a compact live feed of the vehicle. Its speed appears at the lower right, for example “20 km/h”.

Road Vehicle 1 details panel open, showing a Horse Carriage on Line 1 and the Send to Line button — The Road Vehicle 1 window with the Horse Carriage’s live view, stats and Send to Line button.

Find the film-camera button at the live feed’s lower-left corner. Hover over it to reveal the tooltip “Enter Cockpit”, then click it. The driver’s-seat view fills the screen, hiding the windows and bottom bar.

Ride along the route. When you are done, press Esc to leave. The hint on screen reads “Esc Exit”.

When the overhead map disappears and the road appears ahead at eye level, with the interface hidden, the cockpit view is active. You can use the button whether the game is paused or running.

Which vehicles can you ride

Road vehicles support cockpit view. One example is the Horse Carriage from the early 1900s, whose camera is positioned at driver’s-bench height. Available from 1893 to 1920, the Horse Carriage holds 6 units of any cargo type and reaches a top speed of 20 km/h, for a slow, steady ride.

The in-game tutorial gives two steps for entering a train: choose it in the 3D scene to bring up its window, then press the camera icon to view the cockpit. This method does not cover trams, ships, or aircraft.

What the cockpit view shows

The whole interface is hidden. There is no bottom bar, no account balance, no date and no windows. Only a few readouts stay on screen.

At the lower left, the cargo symbol appears beside the load amount, such as “0/6”.
The lower-centre area shows the line name and upcoming stop, such as “Line 1” and “Heading for The Grove”.
The vehicle’s speed is displayed at the lower right, for example “20 km/h”.
Above the speed display at the lower right are two key prompts: “H Trigger Horn” and “Esc Exit”.

The two key hints fade after about five seconds. The keys keep working after they vanish; only the on-screen reminder goes away. The load, line and speed texts stay.

Driver's view down a dirt road showing Line 1 Heading for The Grove with H Trigger Horn and Esc Exit — The driving view showing the line, the next stop, the speed and the two fading key hints.

Controls while riding in the cockpit

You cannot steer the vehicle or change its speed. It keeps following its line. What you can do is turn and shift the view, sound the horn, and control the pause.

Key	What it does
A	Turns the view to the left
D	Turns the view to the right
W / S	Shifts the viewpoint lengthwise along the vehicle in either direction
H	Sounds the horn
Space	Pauses and unpauses the game
Esc	Leaves the cockpit

A and D are the only keys that rotate the view; it stays aimed where you leave it instead of returning automatically. W and S move the viewpoint along the vehicle without changing its tilt. Hold S for a second to pull back until the horses and wagon front occupy the lower half of the screen.

Cockpit driving view down a dirt road toward a hill with the H Trigger Horn prompt — Pressing H sounds the horn as the carriage drives out of the trees toward a hill.

Use Space to start movement only if the game is paused: in that state, the cockpit image remains still. Since the speed controls vanish with the rest of the bar, set the game speed before entering.

Clicking either mouse button anywhere exits the cockpit, so avoid trying to drag the view. Use A and D to turn instead. Mouse movement has no effect on the view’s direction, and scrolling the wheel does nothing. Zoom is unavailable too.

What happens when you leave

The camera does not return to its previous position when you leave the cockpit. It appears outside, close to the vehicle, and tracks it along the route. While following, the lower-right corner displays “Esc Back”; the vehicle window and bottom bar also reappear.

Road Vehicle 1 panel reopened for the Horse Carriage on Line 1 with the Send to Line button — After leaving the cockpit, the Road Vehicle 1 window is open again beside the carriage.

Press Esc once more to close the vehicle window. The game’s pause state is unchanged, so if it was running during your ride, it continues running after you exit.

Common mistakes to avoid

Find the camera button within the live feed in the upper part of the window; it is not among the buttons along the bottom.
The map-pin symbol at the window’s top is labeled “Locate”. It moves the camera to the vehicle, but does not enter cockpit view.
With the game paused, the view is a frozen frame. Press Space to ride.
A left click or a right click ends the ride, so do not click to look around.

Riding costs nothing and changes nothing about how your network runs.