I'm on a similar page, my thinking is this, at a little further back, you can effectively have the same area "in use" as e.g. my current 32" monitor but at a much better DPI, so for regular use, you can still work with your window of interest and be no worse off, you can then have other things sitting on the other parts of the screen as if you have 4 monitors in a 2 x 2 grid, as you also mentioned.
Items you just need to glance at could be on the top, system monitoring etc.
For gaming, you can then either get a very immersive experience if your card can drive the detail well, or, as you say, sit further back.
So it may not be as bad as e.g. a 43" UHD screen as it is usable close up due to the detail and allows moving further back due to the size.
I'm also considering it could be put on a shelf a bit lower than a desk in front of it such that you look more at the centre, this would need to be height adjustable to move it out of the way when using it at a distance, but this could be the ultimate setup if you had e.g. two electrically height adjustable desks and you raise the front one for close use with the back one lowered and then swap them around for using them from a distance.
You could also use it in ultra-wide, if the scaling/GPU allows it, just using 1/2 the screen in a horizontal format and it would still be price-comparable with some of the high-end monitors.
I might give one a go in September and see how it works.
), though one would also need to account for differences in eyesight - most people read the best at 1m distance or below, not just due to text sizes but also the focal properties of our eyes (detail perception being the best at relatively close ranges even for features where their perceived size is the same) so reading text on a huge monitor further away might be problematic still. Nearsighted people would definitely struggle!