the cockpit would have a giant airspeed indicator and a giant horizon and a giant altimeter
Agree. Have you noticed how most wristwatches now have hands (pointers). Before that came digital numbers. Before that too were hands on the face of the clock. It is quicker to gauge the time by looking at the round dial watch. Don't ask me why but certainly it seems that way.
Round dial ASI's took your attention as their rate of change of airspeed in either direction stood out. Drum type ASI's need interpretation of a different type to round dial ASI's.
Take a look at the "modern" artificial horizon in glass cockpits. Usually a tiny triangle as "the little aeroplane" if you have a good imagination, and nothing like the old type of artificial horizons of yesteryear with a big "little aeroplane" that stood out like dog's balls and much easier to fly on instruments.
The glass cockpit AH's which are usually half camouflaged by coloured bakgrounds are designed primarily for flight directors and often surrounded by a plethora of additional flight information. Garmin displays are like reading a colour blindness chart. Somewhere among those colours is a "little aeroplane".
It may be why the average airline pilot brought up on button pushing often has trouble with basic instrument flying