Provided that the maximum realism is, in my opinion, achieved by using TrackIR or similar device, I have seen many videos on youtube and most of them have zoom 0.5 or less. I think all people who say that the NGX cockpit is too big and the overhead too far have been influenced by the use of that unrealistic zoom factor (that is also ugly because it creates that awful fisheye effect). I use 0.75 and everything is much closer and close to reality (I have spent many hours in real 737 cockpits). I would also use 0.8 or more, but then it gets quite hard when it comes to landing. Further, in real life, during the approach, the runway looks very close (I have always had the impression to be too high and too close, even if perfectly on the glide) and in FS this sensation is completely cancelled if the zoom factor is low.

For the record, you can see what the forward facing VC view looks like in the PMDG 737NGX and 777 in FSX on my PC in this UK2000 forum thread....

 

http://www.uk2000scenery.org/forum/index.php?topic=7782.0

Provided that the maximum realism is, in my opinion, achieved by using TrackIR or similar device, I have seen many videos on youtube and most of them have zoom 0.5 or less. I think all people who say that the NGX cockpit is too big and the overhead too far have been influenced by the use of that unrealistic zoom factor (that is also ugly because it creates that awful fisheye effect). I use 0.75 and everything is much closer and close to reality (I have spent many hours in real 737 cockpits). I would also use 0.8 or more, but then it gets quite hard when it comes to landing. Further, in real life, during the approach, the runway looks very close (I have always had the impression to be too high and too close, even if perfectly on the glide) and in FS this sensation is completely cancelled if the zoom factor is low.

i assure you i never use an unrealistic distorted zoom factor. the ngx is proportionally wrong regarding the distance from the glare to the top of the windows vertically. its a fact . if you have ever sat in a real one its one of the first things that strikes you, the smallness of the front window gap . its pretty much the same on all airliners this gap is deliberately small to prevent glare in the cockpit and because the pilot face is actually so close to the window in reality you only need a small gap it doesn't restrict your vision at all. its also very obvious if you compare photos of the real thing to the pmdg ngx. . if you don't believe this. have a look from the outside of the ngx look at the elongation of the front windows they are low and long width ways  really oblong. now compare that to the shape from inside. its completely different you don't see this low oblong look at all. and in the real one you see this exactly the same inside and out.. It got measured wrong that's it. the 777 however was done right

 

 

kav

I would think zoom would have a lot to do with it.   I recently visited my Mom in Oceanside, and making our way to I5 we drove near Palomar Airport - I was really suprised how wide the runway was and how narrow it looks in FS....

Actually, the most realistic is to have displays on a second monitor below the first...then you do what the pilots do...

 

Colin Ware

Seattle Washington

if you have ever sat in a real one its one of the first things that strikes you

 

Sat hundreds of times...

Sat hundreds of times...

yes so you'll know what i mean then

 

 

kav

For the record, you can see what the forward facing VC view looks like in the PMDG 737NGX and 777 in FSX on my PC in this UK2000 forum thread....

 

http://www.uk2000scenery.org/forum/index.php?topic=7782.0

 

Maybe it is only me but those screenshots shows that the distance to ground from VC position is very close to each other. I dont feel the height differents in those shots 777 VS 737

 

Michael 

Agreed - started using that in the last few years and haven't looked back.

 

I only have two hands - one to fly, one to press space down, where's the other one to move the mouse?

I only have two hands - one to fly, one to press space down, where's the other one to move the mouse?

 

I know I like to think I'm a superhuman, but I only have two appendages available to do the same.

 

If you can't reach away to move the mouse for a second or two, you're not in trim, and you're therefore not flying the aircraft properly.

I know I like to think I'm a superhuman, but I only have two appendages available to do the same.

 

If you can't reach away to move the mouse for a second or two, you're not in trim, and you're therefore not flying the aircraft properly.

 

You're right in that you have to be in trim, but c'mon, having to release both hands from the controls to turn on the landing light (for example) is not a good solution, what if you're in a turn? In a real plane you always keep one hand on the stick/yoke and never release it even if you're in trim. 

 

The optimal solution is TrackIR.

 

This is the kind of thing that's easier in a real aircraft, interacting with the cockpit and looking around. In fact, in many aspects flying the real thing is easier than the simulator due to limitations of being on a PC.

 

 

You're right in that you have to be in trim, but c'mon, having to release both hands from the controls to turn on the landing light (for example) is not a good solution, what if you're in a turn? In a real plane you always keep one hand on the stick/yoke and never release it even if you're in trim.

 

Agreed.  I didn't make the sim.  It really isn't a travesty to release your hands for a few seconds.  It's just part of coping with being in a sim versus being in an aircraft.

 

If you're not in trim, you're not flying the plane properly - I don't care if that's a real one or a fake one.  It's not ideal to release your hands, but if you're in trim, it shouldn't be a big deal.  Moreover, as others have mentioned, one could easily map a button on the yoke to the spacebar, and then you can just use your throttle hand to manipulate the mouse.

 

Just a fact of life in the sim, really.

I know I like to think I'm a superhuman, but I only have two appendages available to do the same.

 

If you can't reach away to move the mouse for a second or two, you're not in trim, and you're therefore not flying the aircraft properly.

 

It's critical phases like takeoff and landing that i struggle there. Sometimes you need to be clicking buttons in the cockpit and flying the plane at the same time. You can trim the aircraft but only during or after you've used the yoke. 

 

My point is that it's easier to simply zoom out a bit so you have more of the cockpit in the screen and thus don't have to pan around as much during critical phases of flight (and therefore not unreasonable to zoom out more than is realistic - my point being you were judging people who do this as uninformed and trying to achieve realism when really we're trying to avoid the inherent sim issues you correctly identify).

 

Maybe it is only me but those screenshots shows that the distance to ground from VC position is very close to each other. I dont feel the height differents in those shots 777 VS 737

 

It probably isn't quite as obvious in a static screenshot on a forum, but I can easily see the difference when I am sitting in front of my PC. In fact, you can see the difference in the screenshots if you look at the runway lights off in the distance, but I agree that it would be a lot easier in the real world with true 3D vision.

Since I started using Ezdok my TrackIR hardly gets any use, just take off & Landing.  

 

Regarding clickspots, why not just use the inbuilt key binders?  I have pretty much all my switches assigned to Hardware or the keyboard.  I never use the mouse to click on stuff except the overhead start switches.  

 

Don't understand why PMDG left out key assignments for the engine start on the overhead..