In RL the majority of U-boats sent out on patrol sank very little if anything at all and that got progressively worse as the war went on.
If I'm to be totally honest, it is a lot easier to rack up tonnage ingame than it was in RL.
The best way to be as realistic as possible is to play at 100% realism and use manual targetting...at least that way you are approaching as realistic a gameing level as is currently possible.
Welcome aboard U-boot V