Game yes, name a plane in reality that can lower and raise it's landing gear as fast? Drop to use as a brake yes, drop-raise-drop-raise in a few seconds no. Nothing to do with knowing your aircraft. Your taking advantage of the gamey flight modeling. As if the uber flaps aren't easy enough.
Anyway, when ever I see flaps out landing gear down can't help but laugh, as It's a great energy state indicator for time to pull verticle drop down and nail the dweeb.
<S>...-Gixer
Just an fyi, the F4u can drop it's gear at most speeds. The tail stays in, and the mains will come down to the point at which an unloading valve will prevent any extension that would cause damage. The same goes to the flaps. They can be set to any setting, but will extend and retract on their own as they too equipped with a system that prevents extension due to damage.
As for the way I fly, I almost always fly the F4u, and I do not "pump" the gear up and down. I drop them as I need to move into the energy state I see fit. After I choose the fight, I either commit to it or not, because as you said, it can really unload a ton of "e" at which point I am committed and need to make the first shot or two. Thats the way I like to fight. I do not last a super long time anymore, but I kill a lot more than I die, and I generally have fun.
Seems to me, there are a lot more aspects in the game that are much more "gamey" than what you interpret the above to be. Like it was said before, standing on your rudder, or entering 9 G turns at 400 kts ias is far more gamey that raising or lowering your gear in an aircraft that is equipped to do that.
