Digital versus Physical Modeling

This article in PD&D does an honest assessment of the use of software for digital modeling- its advantages and its limitations. What it misses is the fact that you CAN have systems that allow you to do full VR immersion and handle the parts.. without too much crazy investment. Truth is, nothing is ever going to replace that final physical prototype build- but modeling can eliminate many iterations of physical builds. If you had one of those installed, would you really stop building parts to see interactions, or would this save you one more round of prototype building?