Clickable Cockpits would make things slower, you have to use the Mouse to Click a Switch in the Cockpit, wich is something i really dont see you do that easly in the heat of battle, especialy if your using TrackIR because the view moves with your head so you have to chase the Switch you want to klick around the screen :-P

Keyboard or what ever optional controle you have would be much faster because you just press the key you want instandly.

However i wouldnt be suprised if in the near future games get Touchscreen suport, wich would make a interactive virtual cockpit much more usefull especaily combined with Multi Monitor suport.

WhiteSnake, ever played DCS?

I wasn't really into clickable before I played it, but then I changed my mind.

The mouse and view work independently, so you just look at the panel with your TrackIR/POV hat or whatever you use, pick your switch with the mouse and click, simple as that.

It was just like pilots did. They didn't have to remember "LCtrl+RShift+O" or anything like that. They only needed to know where was what, something easy to do in such simple cockpits, and simple commands as "press"/"pull"/"turn"/"flick". Quite simple, actually.

And for those who dislike it, there's the option of assigning a key command to everything as well, so everyone is happy in the end.

Well, since it's confirmed that it is in as an option, everyone will be able to choose their preferred method.

What i would do is map all the combat-related and critical controls to keyboard/stick: Radiators, throttle/prop pitch/mixture, weapons, flaps, gear, carburator heaters, generally things that i need to get to fast.

Then, i would use the mouse for the non-critical controls, or the controls that are used sparingly (eg, only during start-up and shutdown, or once-twice per mission): fuel tank selectors, magnetos, etc.

This way i will have a fast way to interact with the critical controls that exist on 99% of the aircraft, are similar and will be easy to remember, but at the same time i won't have to map an absurd amount of commands that i won't be able to remember for aicraft specific controls that change between different flyables.

For example, some aircraft might have an all-in-one de-icing system and some might have a separate one (wing de-ice, prop de-ice, canopy heater and so on).
Some people with good HOTAS setups might be able to map everything, but i sure wouldn't want to have to remember that ctrl+H is the wing de-ice,alt+H is the prop de-ice, shift+H is the canopy heater and that only applies to 3 flyables, because when i fly something else it has an all-in-one system that i toggle with ctrl+alt+shift+H. Much in the same way, even if i had a programmable HOTAS i wouldn't waste my time mapping things like that, cluttering up my interface and having to remember to use shift-buttons and mode selector switches.
Much easier to know the place of the switch in the cockpit and click it, because all i'll ever need to do is turn it on once on the climb-out and turn it off once before landing.

The clickpit might be slow and not practical for critical controls, but it is very useful for the non-critical or support aircraft systems because it cuts down enormously on the amount of shortcuts i have to remember.

Exactly, so they didn't have to look at the switch they were operating. So the need to look at the switch to operate it is actually not working in favor of the overall immersion.

@Zorin

be assured that a pilot always looks at the switches he is using, you would too if your life can be forfeit by a simple error.

voted for no. its just clishe which is nice few times and thats it. also its clumsy so it would not be used in combat sim. not really needed in this kind of sim.

I wouldn't risk shutting down the left fuel pump, or doing even worse crap when trying to shut down the nav lights, for example.

And for those who said it's "clumsy" and doesn't work in a combat sim, do yourself a favour and try any combat sim with this feature before saying it. It's really worth it ;)

For those with bad memory (like me), it makes things a lot easier than having to remember and map 200 commands for stuff you could just click at :-P

Because you always look at your gear leaver when shifting, just so you don't end up in reserve...

Pilots spent in most cases their whole war career in one type of plane, with several thousand hours of flight, do you honestly believe they would look at each single switch they operate??

Especially in the Luftwaffe types most stuff is automated and others have a wide range of limiters, so you couldn't operate most switches in a way that would harm the plane/engine.

Many switches are placed so close to each other that you can't operate them without a short look, even in my simple car and especially in WW2 fighter.

Just look at the two Co2 bottles in the F4U cockpit (no 13), placed directly beneath each other. One is for emergency landing gear extension the other for purging the fuel vapor from the wingtanks before combat. Would you risk to accidentally open the wrong bottle?

http://www.zenoswarbirdvideos.com/Images/F4U/F4UCPL.gif

Even in the 109 the position of quite a few switches and levers changed with the different versions.
Also in this SIMULATION that BoB:SoW will be the majority of flight-time will be Starting, landing, cruising. The time for battle is severely limited by the fuel situation.
So there will be enough boring minutes that can be filled by operating a clickpit, and one will shurely nurse ones 109 back home with the engine running at max endurance with the fuel warning light on.