Alot has been said about the sub but not much about the sea you play in so here my bit
Better weather fog banks driving rain so on sea weed oil on water things that add to making you feel your at sea(or use a mister with salt water in and a fan :rotfl

More detailed vessels people moving about and reacting to things happening (not just standing holding head lolz

Damage models made to fit the damage thats has happened fire marks bullets holes twisted metal
How the ships sink and move and react the sea state really needs work (no 0-33 knots in 2secs)
Sub get very dirty at sea ones in combat more so it would be great if that could be shown
Crew alway look the same no matter what happening state changes how crew look ie happy scared
Smoke needs to look and behave all the same (ie high wind fire smoke in sh4 moves fast but stack smoke remains the same

)
Sub damage that is fixed at sea should still show that it has been damage till repairs at a port ie sea fixs are quick fixs so painting would not happen
Sound use different types of sound for same thing ie not the same sound played over and over again for dive dive dive
also on sound now this would be great but I feel a bit too costly to add to a game Voice command ie you say what you want to happen like make dive to 50ft make ready torp 1 so on now that would be fun

thought sidewinder game voice can be set up to work with sh4 to do that as I use it my voice just acts like pressing keys only thing it cant do is change heading

or any tmo stuff. tho it drives my wife mad when I shout fire the torp god dam it.