The major thing that detracts from realism in the fligh sims and other first-person games is not the lack of binocular vision or size or even the field of view. It is the focus.
Binocular vision does not matter at the distances over a few yards, and even if it did, we still estimate distance more by comparing known sizes. Try closing one eye and walking around - the world will be no less realistic and you will have very few problems (unless you are a boxer).
Image size and field of view have best settings depending on the situation. In civilian sim narrow FOV and large picture are better - you mostly fly level, look in front of you and situation does not change fast.
In military sim, wider FOV adds to situation awarenes and greatly simplifies switching views in a hurry.
But whatever you do, even if you are flying with one eye closed (to simulate absence of binocular vision) there is another factor present which greatly detracts from your immersion. Your eyes know that you are not looking at the real plane but on the flat picture a feet from you because they focus on the surface of the screen!
Solution - a fresnel lense. Good 25" diagonal lense can be had for $40 and high quality 30" diagonal can be bought for $200. I have one. It is a thin (3mm) piece of plastic. I set it about 6 inches in front of my 21" screen. It magnifies it slightly (to 25-27 inch - the greater the distance, the greater the magnification), but most important it changes the focus to infinity - I am looking not at but through the screen. Even when I try to touch the screen behind the lens I miss because I reach further.
The effect is incredible and extremely immersive - the planes and ground are really out there and the screen becomes just a window to the world rather then a drawing surface.
If you are interested, those guys sold it to me:
http://www.desktopsims.com/ 940-484-9546
Call them and ask about 25" and 30" lenses. They tried to persuade me to buy 25" lense for $40 rather then expensive 30" for $200 because that is what most gamers use and they are quite happy.
Since I could not compare them side by side, I went with the one that said "higher quality". The size of the lense does not really matter, as long as it is greater then the size of the screen. Lenses are light and have adjustable legs and are very simple to set up/remove.
miko--
