The VS Stearman panels/instruments situation can be argued all day and night - it doesn't do me any good or bad. I have no ties to the company or product, I just made some repaints for it, in-case anybody who already has the model and enjoys it would wish to add a few extra flavors, not yet covered by the default paint schemes or other repainters. I have about a dozen more Stearman repaints to upload when the time is right (which includes the "Spirit of Artemis" Tracy Curtis-Taylor Stearman (which, unfortunately however crashed/was severely damaged last year) and a post-WWII USAF Stearman (which the restoration is not yet complete, but I have all that I need for reference to the paint scheme), as well as mostly a bunch of civilian schemes). With regard to texture resolution, with the original VS product, you are given the choice of either (compressed) 2048x2048 resolution textures or (original) 4096x4096 resolution textures. With my repaints, you only get 4096x4096.
With regard to aircraft on display at the Smithsonian, you will not find another museum in the world which strives as hard as they do for absolute accuracy/originality. Knowing the Stearman they have, like most of their exhibits, it remains as a time-capsule, untouched (but cleaned/conserved) since original military use. By posting the image that I did of the Smithsonian Stearman cockpit, it simply clarifies that there is a precedent for why the VS Stearman panels/instruments are the way they are (just one of any number of layouts they could have gone for, either historically correct or modern - with the VS Stearman, you also only get one engine type modeled, when there have been several different types fitted during WWII and the present).
This photo of the rear cockpit, from an original N2S-5 manual, matches the exact same configuration of the rear cockpit of the Smithsonian N2S-5 (and the VS Stearman). I have yet to try, but I would assume, if you're flying solo, if you really needed to look at a bank/slip indicator, you'd be able to lean forward enough to see the one in the front cockpit.