I agree on the need for extra realism but let's not be dismissive here. The game/sim (depending on how each one wants to use it) should not be "dumbed down" by default, but it should also be accessible. That's what the difficulty options are for anyway.
Also, if you think about it, relaxed difficulty options are good for the old-timers and "veterans" of the series too. If the new guys can't gradually ease themselves into the complexity and they become lost, they probably won't stick around much. If they can gradually learn however, enabling higher difficulty settings as they go along with it, they have a better chance of staying for the long haul and you have a better chance of getting lots of new and inexperienced targets in your sights