I can read the instruments which is already an improvement.
I fly in Full Switch (all switches right) 'wars' over in Il2 and we have to read the gages to know how high, how fast etc...
I can read them in all the planes fine. It maybe your res or AA settings.
Now some of the gages, in some planes, get blocked due to the single head position but all the gages are readable, at least to me. To get by with the blocked gages some servers allow 'speed bar' which will puts a small block of text in the lower left corner that shows speed, heading alt etc...
The question is does this game got rid of its "killer feature": pilot head on a stick.
That's not an Il2 'feature'. That's how all games were done until AH came along. Most still are that way. However, with track IR and 6DOF most games are moving toward free head movement. SOW:BOB will have 6DOF.
In fact, one of the most prominent and preferred features of IL2 is the ability to TURN OFF cockpit view.
Hardly, that's only an issue if you play on servers with the switches to the left.
Any changes besides graphics?
Lots of them listed over the months but I don't feel like searching the UBI zoo to find them.
I for one am kind of bored with the whole 'BoB set-up' (boring plane set and theater) but will still pick it up for the future expansions. Oleg has said that if you can play FB on the highest graphic settings then you will be able play BoB on the lowest. It will be some time before BoB is released.