- Yes
- No
At time of writing, one can easily notice that mouse aim is indisputably the mainstream control scheme for aircraft players in game modes outside of ASB, despite joystick based control schemes being more authentic and immersive in comparison. Part of this is due to the inherent advantage granted to players by folding 2 axes of input into 1, but much of it I believe is owed to an arbitrary and easily correctable disadvantage imposed by the game’s camera logic upon joystick control users.
As the footage above demonstrates, in 3rd person view, the player camera is coded to lag behind the player’s aircraft in attitude , resulting in the player’s crosshair floating all over one’s screen during maneuvers. The way this effect complicates aiming is readily evident. This effect is not present in virtual cockpit mode, but eliminating it comes at a hefty cost in FoV along with knowledge of the state of one’s aircraft, and with these, overall situational awareness.
The solution proposed to this problem is a straightforward one. The player camera in 3rd person mode is to be fixed rigidly behind the player’s aircraft and aligned in axis with the aircraft’s attitude (as is already done in virtual cockpit view), such that the crosshair can be fixed to the center of the screen unless the player looks elsewhere.
This will be to the overall effect that the player has only 1 moving object, the target’s image on screen, to account for when aiming, as opposed to both the target and one’s own crosshair, which should decrease the mental workload required to get guns on target.
Within the niche of combat flight games WT is overall on the more high fidelity side, and to me it is only natural and intuitive that joystick mode is at least a feasible if not thoroughly enjoyable option to work with.
The changes proposed above should hopefully allow players to retain some level of competency during live gameplay while being able to experience the full visual package of having the horizon rotate right as you roll left, as real pilots have the opportunity to.
Thank you for reading.