I do not use speakers; I've got a fairly cheap USB 'rumble' headset and am thinking about an upgrade. My headset is stereo only, and I really don't notice much positional sound when it comes to other cars. Other cars get louder when they are near me but I don't hear them on the L/R when passing or being passed. I do notice and hear the curbs and bumps (when I drop a wheel off the road) in the L/R channels. Do you guys hear other cars around you positionally? What in game sound or windows settings do you use to get a 3-D sound stage? Any recommendation for a good sounding USB headset with good soundstage?
I have 2.1 speakers though I race in VR which has built-in earphones. Using either of those I do get positional audio from other cars, so I'm not sure why you're not getting it with your headset.
You might be interested in HeSuVi, which gives you multitude of virtual surround options on pretty much any sound card or headset, though it sometimes requires a bit of tweaking to make everything work properly (you need to make the games output 7.1 or at least 5.1 sound, but some soundcards/headsets can only be set to stereo in Windows, which complicates things, so you need to work around that limitation). Unless you're able to use a true 7.1 or 5.1 sound system and are limited to using headphones, there's no better alternative than properly configured virtual surround. Personally, I'm using the GSX preset and couldn't be happier, great positional sound in any game. https://sourceforge.net/projects/hesuvi/