Yes you are right Matt, I forgot about the minimap and the spot but you still have to get the 'drop' on the player for first kill which is where aiming definately comes in.
In our platoon we are always cussing when someoner hasnt checked their corners and walked out in front of someone hiding, yes you'll die but so you should. That is part of the game. But I do prefer hardcore servers that have no minimap hud or anything so I am more towards the realism for me. I do play both normal and hardcore. Vehicles in hardcore are not so hard to kill either, being easily able to shot pilots in a chopper or two instead of whoring the skies, flying high, spamming Q and aiming at the infantry red triangles in a jet or heli with rockets.
My mates who are very good in normal mode do concentrate feircly at their cross hair, so much so that they strain their eyes or arent 'seeing' the game and conentrating too much on their KDiinstead of the team and objectives. Each to their own as rusty says. Just hope the hit detection in BF4 is better as for the first 6 months it was better in normal mode.
Anyway, if someone looks better than me score wise or is my nemesis then they must be cheating........I'll hear no more about it!