Yes true.. Look at the different opinions on current sims. Simracing is very subjective.. some points:
1) Skill level varies a lot: someone doing a 2 minute lap isn't really driving the same as someone who does a 1:55..
2) What is skill? You can learn the limits of the sim but does that mean you're applying real driving skill? Are you stomping on 3 pedals at the same time with overly stiff / oversteery setups that noone would ever use in real life? Even two people who do a 1:55 (lets say thats a near WR time somewhere) will do this in quite different ways. It seems like you drive your 'style' and form an opinion on how the sim reacts to your style...
3) Style is overrated, 95% of simracers suck! (me included!) A LOT of simracers with their opinions have the relative skill level of ending up somewhere mid/backfield in a national celebrity Citroen Saxo race.
4) Computer limitations.. Some points here.. a 'flat' 3D image, some sound.. thats it.. Sims using a different FOV or use more 'head shaking' will make people conclude they 'feel different' even before you get to the physics.
5) Controller limitations. If 95% of simracers are poor (again me included), 98% probably use horrible controls. Standard off the highstreet store shelve pedals are very poor, and my recent trials with a Logitech DFP made me quite sad! Horrible! It made me understand part of the subjective differences. FF settings vary from person to person, totally changing the virtual drivers capability of judging the simulation. Its obvious that FF is flawed with the affordable wheels. Everytime a sim comes out people discuss the FF.. It shouldn't be a point of discussion. A good wheel with a good sim simply 'does' FF, yet the incredibly compromised Logitech designs are causing more grief than giving you feedback. So, sadly, mass produced wheels and pedals are more of a gimmick than good.
High quality pedals are often poor when it comes to brake sensitivity (I ranted about that in AutoSimSport jan/feb issue page 47 if you're interested). Thankfully the high end wheels don't have FF so in that respect they don't add another subjective parameter to the equation.
Then what is happening! We use office chairs and often race in fairly uncomfortable positions, mostly pressing and turning Logitech toys. A squashball makes the brake 'feel nice' (whilst screwing up its sensitivity).. the FF 'is great' while having little relation on the actual steering torque calculated by the sim....
Auch! What can I conclude? We call it simracing but in most cases this is certainly not true looking at the hardware we use. It seems that people look for the immersion and 'thrill'.. This is fine, but hampers your ability to objectively judge something. I can fall for it too! GTR with the canned FF effects and shaking view and sampled sounds has the 'wow' factor. It should however have nothing to do with judging its realism as far as physics go.
7) sims? I think Stefano (Netkar) said that sims are getting more and more alike and that this was a 'good thing' as it showed that basically 'we're getting there'. I disagree. First of all sims are worlds apart, and that is using proper pedals and for the sake of there not being good FF, a non FF smooth wheel. Sims are not all alike, and even if they would be, it might well be that they all would be making the same mistakes..
I always wanted to believe that sims came a 'fair way' since GPL in 1998 but I honestly don't think so. Yes we now have multilink suspensions, brake fade, semi complex aero... but thats no use if the tyre model and/or the data that feeds them is far off. Or if weight transfer is wrong..
Sims aren't good enough yet. Now I can't code more than a multiple choice QuickBasic questionaire so its a stellar achievement that these small programming teams come up with physics and graphics engines at all, but from a pure realism point of view, sims are not truly sims yet.
8)games? I think in 2006 racing sims are not professional and there are few people actually interested in ultimate realism. For some rF does great, for some LFS, for some NKpro, for some N2003. The general maturity of the players shows a lot too.. "I want this car in the game" "I want special drift tyres" "The reversed weight bias Porsche mod is GREAT" etc..
Am I a moaning old man? Well.. yes.. I demand a lot and can't be satisfied when all sims on my harddrive are so different. What if THE real sim showed up tomorrow? I think peoples opinions would still vary a lot because of their poor controls, poor interpretation skills and poor demand for realism.
There is light on the horizon with Todd Wasson's new ideas about tyre modelling, Eero's new sim, and good ol Kaemmer apparantly working on something. I can't wait to try these as its about damn time the bar gets raised! I just hope there are more than 3 people out there who actually care about it.