Remember how old this game is. In all fairness, people should be comparing its graphics with that of Falcon AF, since they were both released about the same time and have been heavily modded since.
Mind you, I personally think the graphics look great. I spent many an hour on this sim when it first came out, and after seeing the SimHQ article I've just bought a copy from Ebay to do it all over again! Should absolutely rock with TrackIR!