I actually do like simulators where the realism is very high and all the buttons and switches are available and reflect their RL functions, but with some ability to automate (like station officers in SH) so I don't have to do it all myself if I don't feel like it, or want to focus on another aspect of the sim.
Played at around 80 percent difficulty, manual TDC but I leave the external view on for the occasional eye candy (though I refuse to cheat with it). SH IV stuck a good balance for me, enough detail to make me feel like my input (plotting intercepts, calculating firing solutions, etc) made a big difference in the game, without completely bogging me down in details like taking celestial navigation fixes.
I'm not holding out much hope for SHO, I avoid online games for the most part because I detest the whole leader board / I'm l33t and you are not nature of them. Ultimately I think they are going to have to make it appeal to the crowds that want instant action and big kill numbers and make it to gamey for my tastes. I saw the "plot intercept course" option pop up when the guy in the video clicked on the contact and what little hope I had for an immersive sim dissipated just a little more.
Now: If the only data available to each player came from contact reports, and folks got a radio report that read like "convoy contact at "lat, long" heading X, speed Y" and had to go hunting, or even better coordinate a wolf pack with other players, it could be awesome.
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