By Biff Henderson

  Padlock. That single word can start some of the longest and most heated debates among the flight sim crowd. Why is that?

The cliché that we've all heard a thousand times now is that "it's a crutch." While the majority of flight sims released in the past several years have included some form of padlock view, there are still a few (notably online games) that don't.

There is a mystery here. Let's dig a little deeper to try and shed some light on why so many people are against it, and if there might be some way to address their objections to this controversial view mode. In the process we might be able to come up with some suggestions on how to make our games even more fun to play.

A Brief History

Early flight sims generally restricted us to the 4 cardinal views - front, back, left, and right. It didn't take long for both sim developers and sim pilots alike to realize that this left a lot of blind spots in our virtual sky. Soon more views became standard - the 45 degree 'corner' views, and sometimes the 'straight up' view. This was a wonderful aid to our SA as we could now practically see all points in the sky just like a real pilot in a real cockpit.

Fig. 1 EF 2000

But there was still something missing. The virtual world still felt somehow flat and two-dimensional. This was mainly because all of these views were static, as if we were watching the world through a television screen - which, of course, we were.

Then some genius (or perhaps several geniuses) invented a 'tracking' view. Now our virtual pilots were able to turn their heads and visually follow other aircraft through the sky in a smooth, 'eyes locked on' sort of way. We were able to forget for just a moment that we were viewing our world through a TV screen and perhaps get the sensation that we were really there. And the sim developers saw that it was Good, and on the next day created virtual cockpits and 3d sound.

The Controversy Begins

Hmm… ok, so if padlock is such a good thing, why are so many people arguing over it? A few will try to argue that padlock isn't realistic. This can't be farther from the truth. When you are driving down the road and spot something interesting on the shoulder, do you just stare straight ahead while looking at it in your peripheral vision? And then when it disappears from your forward view, do you stare out the side window until it comes into view again?

Click to continue

Not likely. If you are like… ohhh... 100% of other drivers, you'll look straight at it, turning your head as it moves relative to you - hopefully glancing ahead now and then so you don't rear-end that semi in front of you. The same principle applies to flying an aircraft. So you see, padlock in itself isn't unrealistic; in fact, the absence of a padlock view is unrealistic.

Again, so why do so many people get so riled up over it? Here's the answer: it's the implementation. Just like our virtual aircraft is a simulation of a real P-51 or F-16, the padlock view is a simulation of a real pilot's ability to visually track a target.

Fig. 2 DI's F16

Simulations are always a collection of compromises. A 17 inch screen being painted by a little wafer of silicon will never adequately duplicate reality. Writing code to simulate a real pilot's peripheral vision, and his ability to easily and quickly scan around the sky is very tricky to say the least. Until head mounted displays become as common as joysticks, sims will need to include some sort of padlock view.

The Pitfalls of Padlock

So what are the problems with some of the current padlock implementations? Let's break them down into a list. These do not all apply to any one sim, but are a collection of arguments about padlock views in general:

1. Padlock isn't lost when the target disappears from view.
2. Padlock isn't lost when switching to another view (e.g. glancing forward).
3. Padlock isn't lost when the target moves beyond visual range.
4. Padlock isn't lost after greying or blacking out.
5. Padlock can be acquired when the target is not in the current view.
6. Padlock allows the pilot's head to make impossible moves (e.g. Linda Blair).
7. Padlock doesn't degrade at high g.

These are all very valid concerns. Very few sims are guilty of the entire list above, but all that I know of fail on at least one point or another. Let's address these complaints and see if we can devise the 'perfect padlock'.

Go to Part II.