The biggest complaint about Windows 8.1 was the jarring transition between the colorful Start Screen and the traditional Desktop. Simulators solve this by often focusing solely on the Start Screen environment. They let you stay in the beautiful, tile-based world without being dragged back into File Explorer. It creates a cohesive, immersive environment that Microsoft struggled to deliver natively.
For the most authentic and "best" experience, running Windows 8.1 in a virtual machine (like VirtualBox ) is preferred over a simulator. This allows for: Performance Tweak windows 81 simulator better
Modern simulators and VMs can actually fix some of the original OS's biggest headaches: The biggest complaint about Windows 8