One example of using simulations was shown at the W13 workshop by
Christian Wolfgang (last AAPT meeting). It was a collision of two
balls (one initially at rest) on a flat surface. The question was:
is such a collision possible? Students are expected to collect
x(t) data and discover that the kinetic energy is conserved but
the linear momentum is not conserved. A good show that a simulation
may be highly unrealistic. But I see a value in this exercise.