You're Practically Flying Through a Keyhole!
Hello VSKYLABS Test-Pilots!
Let me introduce you one of those "why didn't anybody tell me this ten years ago?!!!" tips, which may elevate your flying experience in X-Plane, to a whole new level!
We've been having many notifications lately, from users who are experiencing twitchy aircraft behavior, uncomfortable cockpit layout and aircraft operations difficulties.
Each time, during customer assistance, we realized that many X-Plane users are not familiar with X-Plane's Lateral Field of View setup feature, which is one of the most important setup variables in X-Plane!
Out of the box, X-Plane comes with a narrow 60-65 degrees Lateral Field of View angle, which is not optimized for most of the common 2-d display screens in the size of roughly 22" - 43". It may be geometrically correct, when considering the display screen as a narrow 'window' in our forward view perception, but desktop flight simulation requires some of the missing peripheral ques that exist in the real-world cockpit view. Flying with such a narrow FOV (Field Of View) on a PC display turns flying and operating the aircraft into a twitchy, narrow, lacking and challenging experience.
In order to have a good balance of front and peripheral vision, the basic lateral FOV must be set to higher levels, somewhere between 95 - 110 degrees depending on your preferences. It may be set to lower values following actual testing in-game!
Don't overlook the Lateral Field of View setup, it might change your whole flying experience!
Huss
VSKYLABS