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Check this out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEWvYjKnL18
This a rear projection done with a shower curtain liner and some bent pipe. I understand that this idea is not original but the delivery may be.
The person claims that warping is minimal when you sit in the "sweet spot". It only appears warped if viewed from an angle. Do you think that this could work with a cockpit?
Looks promising. The screen material needs some tension though.
Alan
I don't think this style of rear projection would be very satisfactory in a flight sim application. It works best in applications, like motor sport racing, that require one's attention to be focused directly in front.
Human visual acuity is high only is a very restricted, central area of the eye's field of view. Outside that, acuity drops rapidly. In the peripherial vision, people generally are only aware of gross shapes and movement. We're mostly not aware of this because we're almost always moving our eyes and head.
One of the neat things about peripheral vision is its sensitivity to movement. When things shift in the periphery, we sometime interpret that as an indication that we are moving. This is called vection, and it can be a very powerful factor in creating a sense of speed and motion.
Which brings us back to motor sport racing sims. While racing, your attention is held directly in front. (Look to the side and you crash.) So, what you're able to see to the side happens through your peripherial vision which has terrible acuity but is sensitive to motion. The rear projected curved screen distorts the heck out of the image seen by your peripherial vision, but because its in the periphery you can't tell, though you do get a tremendous sense of high speed motion...which is just what you want in this type of sim. There's an added benefit in that the curved screen blocks out more of the real world, so the overall sense of immersion goes up.
Now, imagine you're in a GA sim on the downwind leg for landing. You want to gauge your position relative to the runway end to time your turn to base so you look to your left and what do you see? A really distorted image that probably doesn't even contain runway end. And that sense of speed from vection? Well, even down at pattern altitude the ground doesn't seem to move that fast, so vection doesn't add a great deal.
Bottom line, in a flight sim where you're constantly scanning the sky, this sort of curved display, IMHO, would be a distraction rather than an enhancement.