You should be looking ahead to where you want to go. Think of it like driving a car. You aren't fixated on the road directly in front of your car, you are looking ahead. Our brains are wired to go where we are looking. IOW, you aren't concentrating on going striaght ahead, you just do it automatically because that is where you are looking. Same when turning a corner, now you are no longer going straight ahead you are going into a turn and looking in the direction that you intend to go.
I try to pick a point of reference of where I want the quilting line to hit and focus there. Even if I am 3 or 4" away from that point. As I move towards that point of reference just before I get there my eyes have moved on to the next point of reference. It is something I have to consciously remind myself to do as my gaze often wants to shift to where the hopping foot is, not where I want it to be next.
Edited to add, I quilt on a stand up LA and 99% of the time I have the closed toe foot on mine because I use my rulers so much.