I would propose to implement a dynamic adaptation of terrain level of detail / LOD with zoom/field of view so when zooming in you would see objects and terrain with a realistic and higher level of detail.
I have made some tests to improve frame rate and reduce stutters on my system (old i2600K OC and RTX 2700). What I noticed doing some experiments is that with a Terrain Level of detail of 10 (vs 100) in a dense urban area (Rome with 3D photo buildings), I reduce to almost zero the stutters and have a smooth experience. with Terrain LOD to 100, I noticed that stutters are function of the change of scenery with time. I could see this by entering a steep 60 deg bank at 500 ft with a lot of buildings appearing during the turn. With Terrain LOD at 100 I have continuous stutters probably because the urban landscape changes continuously and need to be loaded. With LOD at 10, it’s stutter free.
However, the issue is that with a LOD of 10, if I zoom to show buildings or terrain at distance, these look like a pile of rubble (turning Rome into Pompei… not that Rome has not already its fair share of ruins…). Or in NYC it looks like the collapsed buildings in the dream in Inception (the movie)…
So it looks Terrain LOD changes the rate of change of LOD with distance. However, if this can be changes so that when you zoom, only those portion of terrain in the field of view are shown at higher LOD, the result would be much more realistic and improved.
In such a way, I could zoom while cruising at 30000 and see city and terrain details. In X Plane there is a nice add on which would adapt the LOD based on frame rate so when zooming, you would see more buildings. But even without this add on, zooming shows buildings not previously visible (only those in the field of view).