This is a feature request.
In the game settings, setting 'object draw distance' to ultra is insufficient and does not allow one to see characters and vehicles at long distance, also all other objects.
Considering there is a server side setting called 'networkviewdistance' which goes all the way to 5000 meters, this seems not so intentional.
To mitigate this you could simply add the variable 'Size multiplier' from the workbench Diag Menu into the main game settings.