Just to clarify: the difference between the first-resolution LOD and the View-Pilot LOD is not what I'm reporting here. The actual issue is that the lowest-resolution LOD is being displayed instead of the first-resolution LOD (highest non-View-Pilot resolution LOD) when in third-person perspective at close distances, as shown in the screenshots above.

I tested it again, and the issue still occurs in both version 1.27 and the new 1.28.

I tested it again, and the issue remains after update 1.26.