Agree with Slapshot...
If you sit on the runway, or hangar and fire the guns, the tracers are coming out of barrels as advertised. When fired while moving through the air, your basically flying through the tracer tracks (can't figure out how to say it any better)
Also, muzzle flash was only visible from left side guns. I am sure these are items that are really on the back burner. One of the biggest probs I see right now is the HUGE framerate hit taken when you fire the guns. I went from 60-70s down to low teens and single digits in all views.
Basic specs: P4 2.53, 512m ram, ATI 9700 pro 128.