Hear, hear!!
I tend to agree that the "full real" folks are like virgins. They have wild fantasies about sex but don't understand the real thing is a LOT different than what they imagined.
I have settled on the TW sims mainly because, like EAW before them, they find a proper mix of flight and combat immersion (which is different but IMHO, more important, then pure realism.) FWIW, I've been flying sims since right around 1984 so I've seen my share.
I also proudly make use of cheats such as boxes and cones. Having done some flying it becomes very obvious that the computer screen (even with TIR) cannot match the ability to instantly swivel your head and the ability to use peripheral vision to fly and fight at the same time. To achieve THAT level of reality almost requires that you use a cheat to overcome the limitations of the flat computer screen.
Good topic. Fun stuff.