My understanding of how the Graph View is implemented (i.e. a semi-random physics model) suggests we won’t see this feature request anytime soon. That said, it would make a great suggestion for the Plugin Ideas forum category.
One question on your proposed layout: what happens when two nodes both link to each other? We can’t assume all node networks have strict parent-child relationships.
Like you, I find the Graph View less utilitarian and more aesthetic. My feature request here is in the same spirit as yours, proposing a more useful way to navigate the node network: