I'm glad you asked that. After my disagreement with Mr DJM, I fired up ss08 (and 06 after) and had a bit of a play.
I had a go on one mission- a user mission- the red eagle from soton to cowes and back. It was one of the first (decent) uploads. Forgot its name...
It needs skill to manouver the vessel into Cowes and is long enough to 'get into' it, but not so long as making me lose my will to live.
Was it the mission or just the environment? Both really.
-There is a basic sea lane into Cowes which seems pretty realistic to me, as is the bottom of the Solent, with its sand banks- there was something to do at all times- navigating buoys and occasional course corrections for collision avoidance etc.
-Most importantly, IMO was the ability to complete a voyage from beginning to end. I feel it worthless when taking the PoR from Rotterdam then suddenly BANG- the land disappears and you are in the North Sea with a "game over" banner. This is why I was such a proponent of the short ferry crossing ideas.
Good grief- I bet you wish you'd never asked now