Keep in mind that the sims give you perfectly trimmed models and absolutely still flying conditions. You have to click in some turbulence and wind to have anything approaching the conditions you almost always fly in. And I've yet to see any model the average flyer shows up with to be perfectly trimmed.

The beauty of the sims is that a beginner does have the opportunity to fly a perfectly trimmed trainer in perfect conditions to begin with. And after he gets a bit of experience, he can dial in some "realism" with the weather settings. None of this is possible at the field.

Only problem with that, is that most sim detractors never thought of it before blazing away at how unrealistic they think sims are. No real surprise the sim models don't fly like theirs.