Been seeing some really good Black Friday sales on larger size curved monitors. Any opinions/feelings/comments on curved monitors with MSFS? Thanks!
They do have an element of “wrap around” but in no way would they replace a tracker or VR. I bought a 31" - don’t have room for anything bigger, and it seems to provide a better experience, but that’s subjective of course. Why not pop into a local retailer and have a look? You don’t have to buy there but you might find a good deal of course.
Edit - but nothing beats VR of course!
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IMHO save yourself a bunch of trouble and get a nice sized 16:9 monitor that’s got the height to show your instrument panel in detail, and a head tracker if you like to look side to side without using finger controls.
Curved screens are usually ultrawide aspect ratios that many people don’t like the resulting rendering on.
Because of how 3d perspective rendering works, with a wide enough field of view to do flight simulation you usually end up with a noticeable amount of distortion at the extreme edges of the screen, even at 16:9. Many people complain bitterly about the distortion at more extreme aspect ratios, and there are multiple threads on this forum complaining about it and sometimes asking for specific alternative re-projections that might give less distortion at the cost of sharpness or rendering time.
I recommend a 32" 16:9 4K screen as a good sweet spot for desktop simming, and the TrackIR v5 head tracker for camera translation/panning.
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35" 21:9 2K curved monitor here.
Guess I should hide… 
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Better than non curved. The bigger the better.
I used my trusty old ASUS PG348Q curved monitor (still here in front of me) until i switched to VR.
You need still to come close for some immersion.
So I would go as big as possible when I had to stay in the cake world (f.e. Samsung Odyssey Ark S55BG970NU Curved-Gaming-Monitor).
By any chance, go VR!
Nothing beats VR!
VR rulez MSFS2020!
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34" 21:9 here too. Love MSFS on it.
45 inch 21:9 curve LG 1440P here. Yes, there is a little stretch at the edges, but to be honest, after a few flights I no longer notice. My old monitor is a 32-inch 21:9 flat and would have gone with a bigger flat but i got a good deal on the curve. It also depends on how much you use your computer for other things. The curve has no effect on anything else I do.
32:9 ratio monitors look gawd awful when following the plane at anything less than sitting right on the tail. I use a 49inch 5120X1440. I stopped playing due to how much it annoyed me. I reinstalled about 10 days ago. I have taken about 3 flights since then.
I really hoping 2024 comes with this fixed, or at the very least a FOV option to adjust it ourselves. An FOV is how xplane 12 fixes it.
I’m using a 32:9 curved monitor and find it a great experience. I also combine it with an eye tracker, but not always.
The good thing with the eye tracker is that you can move the head a bit farther and still see the monitor. It feels more natural and I found it a bit easier to calibrate the movement than with a 16:9 where movement can feel jerky at times.
Of course it’s a drain on the hardware since a 32:9 1440p requires the same GPU power as two 16:9 1440p (or a 1440p VR set) So you need a good graphics card.
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I have a nice VR setup with a Reverb G2.
But when I’m flying without the headset on, the combination of my Samsung G9 32:9 curved monitor and the Tobii Eye Tracker 5 is pretty amazing. Yes, there’s some distortion at the corners due to MSFS rendering, but overall it’s wonderful.
Anyone who says 16:9 is plenty… owns a 16:9 monitor. 
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Tobii 5?
I saw it was on sale. Unfortunately I read the negative reviews and it put me off.
Not sure what the negative reviews were complaining about, but it’s flawless and reliable with MSFS. I had to tune the settings in MSFS a bit to be comfortable, but once I did that, it’s great. Just set a button/keypress to enable/disable it when you’re punching buttons with your mouse and Bob’s your uncle.
The Tobii 5 is worlds better in both accuracy and lack of hassle compared to the TrackIRs I used before. (V1, V3, V5). I had a love/hate relationship with TrackIR. The Tobii removes the hate part.
And paired with my ridiculously wide monitor (which is also excellent for work – first time I’ve been happy with just one monitor since my Amiga days!) the combo is great for simming and productivity alike. However, I don’t use the Tobii for work – and I wonder if that’s where the negative reviews come from; I can’t see using it to select icons in Office or Photoshop not being a pain.
This is what I’m running, (only 32”) keep it closer though, about arms length
You’ve got this the wrong way round. When you’re "sitting on the tail’ it is the FOV that’s changed.
MSFS’s external camera only allows you to adjust the FOV. What’s missing is the ability to change the camera’s distance from the aircraft.
Likewise, I don’t need anything bigger when I’m sat 50cm (20 in) from the screen.
What radius is yours? Mine’s this 1800R, though I wish I had the budget for a 1000R like this for that extra peripheral sensation.
Uuuuh, not sure…. :). LOL
I have a 1000R curved ultra wide (34” Benq Mobiuz) and that’s what I was hoping for but it’s not really like that in practice. You can’t really sit close enough to be “in it” when you have a yoke set up in front. It’s more that the whole surface is equidistant from your eyes than on a flat screen.
It definitely adds to the feel of being sat “in something” though as it’s kind of like a curved windshield. I love it and it’s fine for my setup. Sure there isn’t as much vertical space but I also use Tobii and really when you’re playing you are in the zone. I don’t notice the room around me at all. It’s awesome really.
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Wow, I didn’t realize I was starting such a popular topic! Seems like it’s about 50-50 on the curved monitor. I think I will probably go for a 32-inch good quality gaming monitor. And all of this after I had my wife convinced that a $1000 monitor was cheaper than that pickup truck I had my eyes on! Thanks for all of the in-depth information and advice!
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Unless one is using a 38 inch Alienware Curved Monitor and a Tobbi 5.