Yup, seen the same thing.
What you mention about the sim performance predicting the real world performance is rather startling when you experience it.
I've seen it a couple of times at the flying field. And I think I know why it happens so often.
Figure the probability of each one of our models being setup perfectly and/or getting trimmed out perfectly. Heck, consider how improbable it is that every ARF out of the boxes wind up weighing the exact same weight and all the surfaces being warp free. And every one of us positioning all the components exactly right for all of our real models (I love being able to type "
real models"
) to wind up with the CG located in the perfect place. etc etc
Now guess how much effort the development team put into creating the sim models as perfectly as possible. Consider while guessing that those name models are going to "advertise" the real models another branch of the same company is selling for real money.
It is real interesting.