I'm gonna try to push Fjord's point that the sim does NOT have a lot less to deal with.
I saw a ~11m tutorial on how when you use your targeting pod without laser pointer the system's targeting computer will get terrain height information from internal data, and point behind, say, the enemy truck you are trying to hit. Therefore, it not only gets incorrect height data, it also calculates the coordinates wrong. If you use that information to drop payload (in one of the myriad ways you can do it, CCRP or CCIP with either 9-mil, 5-mil or drop restrictions - pardon me, I forget the actual names), you might very well miss the target.
On the other hand, if you turn on laser sighting, not only can you sight for another plane, but the laser will accurately pin-point the distance from your plane, thus get the correct height, and you'll be able to hit.
That is one single, tiny example from among the thousands of them that you might have to deal with while flying the DCS A-10.
Here is the video:
I am not into jets at all! What drew me to DCS A-10 was the realism, and the fact is: I am always pressing buttons and always have something to do. In CoD, I might adjust throttle and radiators to keep temperature steady with a plane like the Blenheim. In DCS A-10, you will be customizing and configuring your countermeasures, setting up weapon profiles for release, designating targets in various ways and storing them, possibly altering your flight plan while online, etc etc etc. The manual is a crazy 670 pages, I would estimate 80% of which are filled with relevant and important information that you should know at some point. And it's not verbose.
I'm sold, to be honest, just for the realism
Also: