Hmmm......I think the limited field of view thing is a bit of a red herring. I'm sat at my pc now with the monitor on a desk. To my right are some pens. If I pick one up the natural thing seems to be to move my head and guide my hand to it. I don't grope around for it whilst staring straight ahead.
If I was sat in the cockpit of a modern military jet i think I'd be wanting to guide my banana fingers right onto the correct switch or button. Again, I don't think I'd be relying on peripheral vision to accomplish 'difficult' tasks. Chimps like us are hunters not flight animals and we've evolved two close-set optical receptors on a pivoting, swivelling mount. We're meant to use them that way.
For us, peripheral vision is mostly useful for seeing things in the dark.
Nice idea with the plywood btw.