It's a good goal for the next generation of computers, or maybe 10 years down the road. It wouldn't be possible now, as we are stretching the capabilities of all but high-end systems. In order to produce a profit, and selling video games has to be conducted as a business with all the slimey compromises that implies, a game has to be runnable on a large number of available machines.
Ubi obviously had to dispense with some of the interactive goodies of SH3 to make SH4 playable on enough machines to give it a chance to be profitable. This will not always be true.
Compare SH4 to Silent Service II. That is how SH4 will compare to the next generation of subsims. However, to finance the next generation we have to be willing to pay for this one. And this one is pretty good. I'm having more fun than I should be allowed to have, thanks in part to the descendent of your real deck gun.
