Hi,
I use MSAA 2x with Index. I found the shimmering with MSAA off to be too much to bear, even at the cost of some fps.
MSAA blurs edges so they don't shimmer which is great for the attenuation of shimmering or the stairs effect. This makes far, not linear objects become blurred and somewhat faded which is a negative side effect.
Anyway I can spot aircraft quite far, even for real life standards. The problem is that one must put the eyes exactly on the right piece of sky to achieve this, which makes it an art form.
But in reality it is the same.
I'm coming from Rift CV1 and the visual pickup has evolved to a point comparable to real life, when talking about distances only. The crispiness of the tallies is still way too far behind from reality and the VID distances as well as a consequence. But, from a CV1 comparison perspective the visual arena is now manageable.
Maybe with 8K for each eye...
Tech will get there for sure!!!
For the ground targets it is easier in DCS than real life by miles. This is because the terrain is simpler, with less clutter than real life and any object becomes more easily observable.
Having said this I think that spotting is well modeled in DCS. I know that some people complain about it but only bigger (size) monitors and more resolution in both monitors and VR will solve this... or labels, which I never use anyway.
ED has done a good job in this department.
Cheers!!!