Hehe, yes, if you want "realism" (as much as possible at least), then a TrackIR is the only way to go (and one I've never regretted, only that I didn't get one earlier
)!
For those without one, well, I've been without one myself for years, but I've never used the "POV-coolie" as a POV-coolie
. After all, I always had
programmable controllers, so why should I stick to some convention that was established when even a single hat was a luxury? My TMs always had 4 coolie-hats on the stick plus one on the throttle, so I've used the one on the throttle from the start. This way I didn't need to change grips, and I always could control any of my stick's coolies at any time, even
while using the POV. CH's PT features 4 coolies, so why not use the 8-way POV-coolie as exactly this: the POV-coolie?