[Sonarman]

Yes in general the ships in Ship Simulator 2008 feel very realistic, much more so than in the rival "Virtual Sailor" program, but I suspect this is largely because the community who make the ships do not know the correct data to input for proper handling rather than a fault of the program itself. I was less the impressed when my tiny steam tug in Virtual sailor managed to pull a huge supertanker around at 14 knots, also bow thrusters are way too effective and you can pull into dock at 12 knots press the mooring key and immediately come to a dead stop, definitely unrealistic.

Whilst canals are present in Virtual Sailor you have to turn collision detection off to use them which rather spoils the fun!