yep, F4 padlock it, then zoom in to get a close look of it, or use F8 after padlock, another way to get a close look to identify it.
And you can zoom out in F8 to see the targets surroundings, to you can find it again.
When I fly with Hard HUD mode, I padlock the target, then fly so that the target is in front of me. Then I switch to HUD view ( F3 ) which is a cockpit zoom-in, which makes the target much better visible .
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"the game is still meant to be light, casual, fun game with nifty airplanes in it" - TK