I think that you can interpret damage model as a physics issue (bullet flight paths, energy transfer, energy required to break a particular part, etc.) or you can consider damage model to be a visual issue (dang, that fire and smoke looks real!).
I think AH is very high on the physics end, and games like IL-2 are much higher on the visual, but have questional physics.
Damage model ratings could have 2 parts... visual and physical.
eskimo