Now I can actually see my HUD when looking at bright areas. Not perfect, they really could use a little more contrast on the HUD color but at least I can see it now.
I don't have any issues with HUD not being visible against bright spots (excluding the sun, naturally) on PC monitor. I'd suggest fiddling with contrast and brightness settings, both the TV's and in-game ones.
As for the game difficulty, Ace Combat is harder than... well, average game. Also the kind of game where getting better may have noticeable impact on your performance.
It should get somewhat easier as you get better planes though.
If you are struggling with ground missions, you may want to work toward to A-10 or Su-34 as they're dedicated attack planes, though and carry powerful anti-ground weapons. The Su-34 is also quite passable in air combat, as long as you're proficient with standard missiles. I'll also note the unguided bombs (UGB) as quite handy for anti-ground ops (and several fighters have them as option), since you can fly high and safe while dropping bombs. A word of warning though, many anti-ground ops either have quite a bit of air cover, or get surprise mission updates that involve enemy aircraft entering the battlefield.
If enemy air forces are a problem, you may want to work toward a plane with QAAMs (eg F-18F Super Hornet), as those missiles are very agile and thus handy in a dogfight. Or alternatively, a plane with LAAMs (Typhoon, F-14D, MiG-31B) might work, since those missile have 10000 meters of range by default, allowing sniping enemies from distance.
Unfortunately you cannot sell stuff in this game and test things out, and there's no training mode whatsoever. So you may wish to buy various options, test them out and figure what's your style.
Finally, do remember to pay attention to the briefing, especially the second part since it shows what type and how many mandatory targets you have, at least initially, and gear up accordingly.
Incidentally, which control type are you using? The expert mode is a bit more involved as it allows rolling, but that same thingmay make your life much easier.
