Centaurus,
Makes you wonder how the Space Shuttle crew handled their flight when the fidelity of their simulator was in doubt.
It was never in doubt. They had the ultimate in simulation – The C-11A Shuttle Training Aircraft. (I had the pleasure of seeing a presentation by the (newly redundant) Shuttle Project Manager a few months ago when he described how a Shuttle Pilot had to successfully accomplish 500 landings in the C-11A and a Shuttle Commander 1000 landings before an actual Shuttle launch. Very, very impressive).