[Yskonyn]

Excellent point Ishigami! Well said.
Since day one the debate in simulators has been realism and wether certain 'gamey' aspects should be replaced by hard-core realism.
SH5 is a nice example why certain features like this won't work in a video game.

In front of your computer we, kaleuns, are always handicapped in terms of (among others) field of view, sensory information gathering (hearing, seeing, feeling and smelling) to name a few.
It will never be like 'we are there'. The game can only create a decent atmosphere to get us into the mood, but the interface makes a big difference wether that immersion is going to be fun and actually adding to the feeling of being there.

Indeed HUD indicators give us a general overview of the situation in the game much like we could have reading dials and communicating with crew members in the sub when we would actually be there.
This would be an almost automatic way for a captain to get 'the picture' in his head of what the situation is in and around the sub.
As said above we lack many forms of feedback in front of our pc's and so a decent interface is vital for basic (and advanced) control of the game (or any game for that matter) regardless of how 'gamey' that may sound.