I personally enjoy both Pinball Arcade and FuturePinball adaptions of real tables, I think they are much better to play than Visual pinball.

Future pinball has the worst imaginable physics. The flippers are nowhere near to the point of being able to aim shots. Recently with the physics updates in the beta physmod branch, visual pinball physics are finally getting good. Prior to that (any released versions) they were very bad. Better then future pinball but still bad. The physics update I mentioned is a but better than future pinball also as far as floatiness of ball and flipper behavior.

Leelaw: you could be experiencing input lag caused by video card settings or monitor lag. This is not the same thing as low fps and had nothing to do with how powerful your machine may be.

I love VP. I find it different than real pinball, of course, but if anything I would say that it often plays faster.
Several people have told me thatthey feel like there is a delay between the time that they press the buttons and when they flip. I've found a few table authors have setup the vp hardware sounds to be "optional" This allows me to turn off flipper and bumper sounds, so you dont have a physical click from my real solenoids and digital click from the virtual solenoids.
IIt's definately an experience that u gotta try for yourself.

I myself am making the digital to mechanical switch in terms of pinball and am finding that the physics in reality are NOTHING like the computerized games and it doesn't help when the physics in each of the emulation programs are wildly different from one-another. The closest physics accuracy I've seen so far to the real thing is Pinball Arcade, but even then it's not perfect and does something few pinball programs actually do: Takes shortcuts in the physics for specific circumstances, such as bouncing the ball out of one-way doors the wrong way if the ball doesn't quite make it through, or being able to plunge a ball that's airborne if it returns to the shooter lane and starts bouncing. : P

Visual Pinball and Future Pinball both have meh physics, though VP9 is actively being worked on and looks to have a new physics engine coming to it. Mind you, at present, VP9 has absolutely terrible nudging mechanics. Future Pinball also has one of the most annoying camera systems ever. Pinball FX2 isn't bad, but again, the physics aren't exactly perfect. Anything older that's not in 3D is going to have poor to atrocious physics.

Computerized pinball programs do have their place though. For one thing, they're FAR cheaper (or free) for the amount of content you get, whereas I can't afford to own a pinball machine myself yet and I feel that will be the ultimate turning point for me once I can and can practice the real thing every day. For now, playing the more accurate computerized programs like Pinball Arcade, I can at least learn the rules and strategies for tables as well as learn some of the more intricate processes of playing tables, such as how to adjust one's shot timing when the balls don't go where you want them to. The actual skill may not transfer over, but the knowledge and the instincts do! ; )