The difference is, I don’t have to read a tree. I don’t have to read a building.
In VATSIM, I have to be able to read the taxiways signs.
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Agree. Maybe I’m being picky but it’s things like this where we begin to move away from accurate and start to focus on what “feels” right. Queue the subjective debates. Like, “forget the size! It looks great in VR”,
Yet hose without VR stare at billboards for signs. Total immersion buster for that application. If we are going to simulate reality, then then be faithful to that and simulate reality.
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True. The point is the signs should also be accurate. Not caricatures of their real-life, standardized equivalents. I believe that readability and accuracy can both be achieved. Having a sign the size of the airplane is just ridiculous.
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Like I said in the very top post, you are in a 3D environment. You may be able to read a taxiway sign from 20 feet away in real life, but in a 3D environment, you may not be able to read a taxiway sign from 20 feet away, especially if your monitor size is smaller, and your resolution is lower.
I have already commented that I cannot read many taxiway signs with a 22 inch monitor at 1920 x 1080 resolution. And my vision is fine. The letters on the taxiway signs are too small to read in the older patch. So when I am on VATSIM, the taxiway signs are totally useless for me, which isn’t good when VATSIM ATC asks you to taxi using a specific route but you can’t use the taxiway signs to help you.
And it’s even worse for people that play on their laptops with a 15 inch monitor. It’s bad enough on my 22 inch monitor, I can’t imagine how bad it is for people that play MSFS on their laptops. Taxiway signs will be practically unreadable for laptop players with 15 inch monitors.
Can’t argue with that either.
I would imagine you would have the same issue with X-Plane in that case, as their airports are very accurate. I don’t think it’s just their size. The signs have some kind of bloom, or glow to them that makes them difficult to read at a distance. Zoom in to them, or get closer, and this is cancelled out.
I’m for other solutions as long as the taxiway signs remain readable. For example, I don’t mind what they do in FSX, which is removing the padding around the letters, to keep the signs smaller. Because the letters are still nice and large in FSX. But I’m going to guess that if Asobo makes FSX style taxiway signs, people will get angry that the padding has been removed around the letters, because there is more padding around the letters in real life.
I think a slider in Settings will be a really good solution. A slider will allow us to tune the taxiway signs to the size we want.
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That would be the best option to please everyone.
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Another issue I really, really wonder if they ever go in their own sim and actually SEE what their update has done. Ridiculous, sorry to say, but nothing describes it better what Asobo does from patch to patch. It takes you 5 mins to see if those signs are now sized correctly or not, how the heck this is not possible for them? I really do not get this…
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I’m not sure how they do what they do but they should not be scaling them for “users”. With all the potential variations, it’s a fool’s game. Size them appropriately and let the users sort it out. That’s why we have the ability to change our resolution and zoom factors.
Here are a few shots comparing nearly the same location at KSFO using a real-world image, then images in X-Plane, P3D, and MSFS. As mentioned earlier, we should be aiming for 1. accuracy - All are inaccurate to the real signage to some degree or another, and 2, size them as specified. You decide but they shouldn’t look like the last shot at Anacortes. The more appropriately sized sign is hidden behind it’s oversized duplicate. Readable doesn’t make it right.
SFO Actual image:
X-Plane:
P3D:
MSFS:
Anacortes:
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My suspicion is that the people asking for taxiway billboards, are sim pilots, and have no real world aviation experience. They just don’t know that taxiway signs are actually not that easy to read IRL, until you get close to them.
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That could certainly be a factor. I honestly believe it’s just an oversight/error that will get sorted. My image of KSFO in MSFS does not have the oversized signs. Yes, it’s small, but if I’m zoomed in the cockpit as I should be, they are plenty readable.
I think Most folks think they should have their sim view set to see the WHOLE panel of an A320 for instance. That isn’t correct and will create issues viewing the outside world as well.
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Not to be that guy, but do you guys use the zoom?
I usually had no trouble reading the signs by just doing that. Or is this a VR-specific problem?
No idea about VR…don’t use it. But zoom is something most simmers use I would think.
Then I don’t get it. I am in the 1080p faction and use 150% scaling. No problems at all with reading the signs.
I’d prefer life size signs and not these billboards or at least a setting in the options. It looks hideous to me and I hope it is a bug. 
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Welcome to R/C Simulator 2020 
I too run this sim at 1080p and have never had an issue reading a taxiway sign.
Sorry OP, but this is a bug.
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There are some major issues that have never been thoroughly fixed, size of the taxiway signs is one of them. We have just another issue now, airport grounds, both apron and runways, infested with taxiway lights and it looks even worse. There are thousands of them in some third-party airports since the World Update III UK.
I will set a comfortable zoom level but don’t typically set unrealistic zoomed out views. I prefer a more realistic cockpit and world environment. It’s one of the reasons I HATE the way the sim has this odd zoomed out “fisheye” look for spot and drone cameras. I zoom in for those.
The zoom level though is as you said a separate issue to the size of the billboar…er…taxi signs we see at some airports. It just isn’t right, regardless of the zoom.
I certainly trust Asobo will adjust but if not, we could also perhaps use something like this found in X-Plane: Airport Environment HD - Page 2 - Scenery Enhancement Packs - X-Plane.Org Forum
Honestly, the more Asobo is able to take on and fix, the less issues we have to worry about down the road with random 3rd-party add-ons causing havoc in the sim. I get it though that it is a balance. Asobo can’t create it all, nor should they.
I will set a comfortable zoom level but don’t typically set unrealistic zoomed out views. I prefer a more realistic cockpit and world environment
Understandable.
It’s down to what your sense of realism allows for. Since I don’t have a VR setup, I’ll take the zooming since nothing on a 2D screen is all that realistic to me. 
Setting a non-realistic panorama view of the controls to mimic the old 2D cockpits of older sims isn’t my thing either, though. Not too keen on simulating the peripheral vision of a fly.
But everybody has their own preference.
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