Agreed. I have always contended that map contacts on TMO is the most accurate way to go, if you have a surface radar equipped boat. Their data was actually more accurate than the GPS like plotting in the game because the digital nature of our chart results in binning.
It is ludicrous to give up your ability to track airplanes as well as surface targets. It doesn't make sense that the captain does all the work while the crew trims their nails.You know, you might cross a street with a bag over your head and survive. But whether or not you did survive the foolish experiment it would have no bearing on whether you could be trusted to cross the street under normal circumstances. The most you would get is bragging rights for doing something difficult and stupid.
This game is not moddable to the extent of letting us make needed changes. In a game written from scratch, I would have an accuracy envelope for all methods. For instance, maybe (and I'm no expert here. Perhaps it was actually more or less accurate) sonar ranging was accurate to +-10%. The sonar would get a range, which would be modified by a random number between -10% and +10% and plotted thusly. Stadimeter? How about +-30% if you're good
But you can see where I'm going: random justifiable error in map plotting. In SH4? Not possible.
So I just come back to TMO with contacts on. It most accurately reproduces the quality of data available to submarine captains. It's not perfect, but neither is any of the rest of the game.