A very bad learning tool.....

[Pursuivant]

When practicing off-line, I find it handy to have unlimited ammo, arcade mode and external view with the ability to view enemy planes.

After a fast pass on an enemy, I pause the game and toggle to the enemy view, cycling through the various planes to view the enemy I've just attacked to get a sense of where and how my shots hit.

I also find external view of my own plane extremely helpful in assessing the weaknesses of the plane I'm flying and catching problems with the IL2 damage models.

For example, when I get killed, I pause the game, switch out to external mode and check the path of the bullet that killed me. That's helped me realize that most single-engine fighters in the game have a small gap between the forward cockpit firewall armor and the armor glass.

In any case, things like plane ID tags and padlocking corrects for the game's rendering limitations and for the limits of computer monitors.

I'd also point out that we're simulating the exploits of men who usually had 20/20 or better vision, excellent peripheral vision, and extremely good object recognition and reaction times. So, arguably things like padlocking, plane ID, etc. allows IL2 to model a "human factor" that most people (and probably most players of IL2) don't have.

Viewed in this light, it is no more unrealistic than allowing out-of-shape, middle-aged civilians to have the same resistance to g-forces and injury as a highly-trained and athletic 20 year old.