SceneKit SceneView pointOfView == nil causes objects to not move

Question

I'm trying to figure out how SceneKit works and came across a strange behaviour. if I set up SceneView with pointOfView == nil changing other nodes position sops working: carNode.worldPosition.x = 100 won't change node's position on the screen. As far as I understand in case of pointOfView being nil default camera is created but what causes nodes to stop moving? My understanding that matrix calculations still should work the same in this case, no?