Exactly. Its really very simple. Folks that are fans of auto racing sims expect the vehicles to look like the vehicles and perform like the vehicles they are modeled after. VC understood this concept, TO A POINT, when it came to their ESPN football series. They tried to make the game look as realistic as possible. As I have stated a million times, they had one fatal flaw. The running animations. As good as the game looked and played (although it had its faults of course), the running animations in the open field did not come close to matching the stride found in the EA football games. That was always one of the complaints of Madden supporters and I think a valid complaint. I remember being blown away by the graphical element of ESPN last year, only to have to admit that they still did not get the open field animations on par with EA. Hence, they could never quite defeat the "giant".
I recommended a few years ago that VC put out two versions of its game. One version. "The GM Edition" for those interested in being "Virtual GMs" with ability to create stadiums, set prices of popcorn, cribs, etc. Folks who could care less whether the graphics or gameplay were up to par in that version, could simply focus on all of the front office stuff that seems to be all the rage for the "new age football gamer". Version #2, "The Competition Edition" would take it back to simple times. The most realistic gameplay and graphics. No cribs, no building stadiums, no "virtual conversations" with prospective recruits, etc. Just "if its in the game, its IN the game." Period. All the memory that got used up by that extraneous "fluff" would be used to create the most realistic game possible.