We can express how one sim "feels" better than another, but otherwise how to assess the "accuracy" of any physics?
When you drive in RL you subconsciously receive and process so much tactile information - the flex of the chassis, the movement of the suspension, the feel of the road, g forces, peripheral vision, etc. - and use this to temper how you control the car. The best sims give but a tiny fraction of this - visual input from the screen and a little input on what the front end is doing from the wheel. Factor in that most sim racers have no seat time in the car in question (probably no real race experience at all) and how can any meaningful comparison be made between a sim car and its real counterpart. Only opinions can be expressed over whether the car responds, "feels", as you think it should. So we each gravitate to the sim that best matches our concept of the car(s) in question (or have have a dozen sims installed and wish for time to explore them all).
I ask this because some sims' physics can be so artificial that even people with little experience on track
can tell. Most serious sim drivers have at the very least a lot of real world experience in, say, ordinary cars.
I, for one, have had a drivers' license for almost 25 years. Plus, I've driven go-karts in at least 15 races,
including pro go-karts. When I first raced in a go-kart, all of my racing ability had been developed using
simulators such as Grand Prix Legends and Live For Speed among others. For me, today, it is relatively easy to tell the good sims from the bad ones. From my limited go-kart experience I can tell for instance what ppl who play Grand Turismo on Play Station don't seem to be able to. I can also, easily, tell that the old Richard Burns Rally simulator is way more realistic than all other rally games currently available.
For me, today, despite its age, rFactor has probably the more realistic physics of them all. If you couple old rFactor with the latest version of the Historic GT & Touring Cars mod, you have, today, probably the most realistic experience you can have in those cars in any sim.
