You can look around the cockpit by switching to view "3D cockpit command look" (shift 9) and holding the right mouse button to pan around. At the risk of needing to zoom more, you can also either go to Rendering Options and increase your field of view a bit, or move your view further back ("," and "." move back/forward - but in some aircraft you may find the seat is in the way).
Once you have a view you like, press Ctrl and any number-pad number to store it, then just that number-pad key to later restore that view.