I started playing virtual pinball with Atari's "video pinball" console and the coin-op game in the 70s, and went on from there to the Atari 2600 cartridge, Bill Budge's Pinball Construction Set, Various Commodore 64 pinball programs, Pinball Dreams and Fantasies on the Commodore Amiga, the Pro Pinball series on various platforms, etc.., etc.... Today I have a collection of 2100+ visual and future pinball tables, and all of the Zen and Pinball Arcade tables on my PC.
Decades ago my love for pinball far exceeded my access to it. Video simulations were my best and often only option to play the game I loved. It wasn't until 2006 that I bought my first pin, and when I powered up STTNG that Christmas morning my wife and son didn't understand why I was so emotional about finally having a real coin-op pinball machine in my home--but it was the realization of a dream and a wish held fervently for more than 30 years, starting as a small child.
Today there are two primary reasons why I continue to play virtually despite having a small collection of physical machines--learning rules is by far the biggest reason, and the second, more minor one is improved audio (nice speakers and subwoofer). Additionally, I love being able to experience the original ROMs via PinMAME, and to marvel at what really talented folks like Russell Speak do to improve and extend classics using Future Pinball, with better audio, added LCD-like video clips, etc.
Of course it's not the same for many reasons, starting with the programmatic physics, 2D presentation, interface (keyboard/x360 pad), etc.--but it offers endless variety that nothing short of an almost unlimited amount of money/contacts/time machine to acquire and floor space could provide. It's the closest I can come to enjoying something of course I'd rather experience as originally designed, but despite the inherent limitations of virtual pinball, I appreciate it for what it is.
Congratulations to Farsight for all they did to make virtual TAF happen despite all the licensing hurdles--a very major accomplishment indeed.