Padlock: Totally agree with that. The real
KEY is how to aproach it, how to select the
tracked target, how to determine when to
break the "lock", when to readquire, etc.
NOTE: With pan and fixed views you can't
look directly to the target unless it is
directly centered in your selected view. So,
in fact, you are looking your targets
"indirectly" (adding an unnatural angle to
their aspects) and this is a serious problem.
Of course, padlock should be overriden at
any moment with a single view key press.
Mouse pad: Totally agree again. This solved
the "indirect" view problem and it is still
a manual viewing method.
Anyway, with so detailed cockpits I think
that auto padlocking or using mouse to
manually track a target will reduce seriously
the fps. In RL you can turn your head from
looking right to left in one sec, you need
a real fast and smooth movement to emulate
this in AH. So, for me, the only feasible
way is to use snap (except P38) or fixed
views. Of course, if you are padlocking a
target you are not viewing (in detail) you
control panel, so, reducing automatically
the cockpit detail level should help a lot
to be able to using fast and smooth padlock
and mouse track.
