Tamer,

 

Yeah, that's why. You're so used to the high levels of distortion and view angle that a more 'natural' view appears unnatural. Additionally, lower zoom levels distort the sight picture out the 'window' of the plane, too.

Kyle, I am using a 34'' 21:9 display. 3440X1440 and have a zoom of .65 to .70 depending what I fly. Wideview is enabled for sure. The visual scene looks fine to me, are my zooms okay for such a size monitor. 

Seeing that that's just below the 0.8 that I cited as a "low" (for my tastes) end, I don't see why that would be too terribly different. Distortion increases as zoom decreases, so while you're lower than what I generally use, you haven't picked up the insane distortion of the 0.3-0.5 group. I personally try to get people to use higher zoom levels because it'll be closer to the intended rendering.

 

Try this:

Find somewhere flat and boring (like North Dakota) and set the autopilot for 500' AGL (you'll have to do the math based on your departure field obviously). Set the zoom to 1.0 and try to look ahead while "paying attention" to the ground in your peripheral vision. Look away, hit the minus key three times and then look back at the screen and repeat the last step (look ahead while noticing the ground in your peripheral vision - you will be at 0.7 now). Look away once more and hit the minus key three more times and then look back and repeat (you will be at 0.4 now). Try it one more time (which will put you at 0.1).

 

Reset the zoom back to where it's normal for you, and then go back to the airport. While on final, repeat the same thing, noting the size/shape of the runway, the depth perception of it, and other visual cues.

 

Note that it isn't just the visual distortion of the VC that is the issue here (where a lot of simmers really gauge their zoom level: "I really want the periph that I'd have in the real plane"), but the external sight picture where the real issue lies. Anyone who's gone through pilot training knows how much of a big deal they place on getting your sight picture set up: from understanding visual illusions (runway slope), to making sure you consistently sit in the plane the same way. That's where the more sinister issues lie. Having a more supposedly 'natural' FoV could set up a situation where you're really messing with your visual cues for flying the plane. A lot of simmers dismiss that because they haven't flown a real plane (or haven't flown a real plane a whole bunch), and/or they leave most of the flying/landing to the AP, but visual cues to a real pilot are a big deal. Zooms that are too low are going to severely impact those cues, very negatively: you judge where you are, how high you are, your speed, and all kinds of other things from your visual cues. Don't mess those up.

 

I'm not trying to throw shade on the sim crowd, but when you don't fly real planes a whole bunch (and by hand a whole bunch), I don't think you can fully grasp how incredibly important setting up the proper sight picture is. You can literally get to the point where you can stabilize your approach while looking at the PFD at 0.7-0.8 zoom, then look up, zoom to 1.0 with your view only out the window, and use the FO/GPWS to guide you down, flare, and land entirely by sight. If you're familiar enough with the visual cues, you'll be able to get a feel for your speed well enough to not have to check it (provided you were stable ahead of time). In fact, I'd argue that you'd have better landings if you concentrated more outside by zooming to 1.0 and looking only outside (that's partially the reason for the GPWS calls, by the way).

 

Mountain out of a mole hill in this post, but setting up a proper view is a lot more important than people think it is. It's a lot more than "how much of the deck can I see?"

Tamer,

 

Yeah, that's why. You're so used to the high levels of distortion and view angle that a more 'natural' view appears unnatural. Additionally, lower zoom levels distort the sight picture out the 'window' of the plane, too.

I have changed to wide view and zoom if 1 and wow it is more realistic . Thank you.

Goto spotview, take a screenshot from the side

Draw a line from the eye of the pilot over the nose to the ground.

Where it hits, is what you just should see. That's your zoom.

1920*1080 turns out 0.75 btw, and 1. is too zoomed in.

 

Another test.. slew the plane into a building in spotview, just where it touches the windscreen.

Best to use a lightpole.. and see what you see inside. (eyepoint might need a shift in any direction)

 

Its important to have the exact zoom to judge depths and land properly, otherwise PMDG's great efforts to make

a 747 are in vain.

 

 

That's your zoom

 

...or your eye position.

I cant zoom too far in because with the monitors I lose my natural peripheral vision.