So the simulated product and the imitated object must be different, if they are exactly the same, they can not meet the needs of people. A photo of a building can go in your pocket, but a real building can't. Simulated products and simulated objects are always two fundamentally different things.
The materials used for human cognition are the products of thoughts made by the nervous system in our heads. The nervous system is something everyone is born with, and it costs nothing. Therefore, human's understanding of the world and the objective world itself must be different. If they are exactly the same, they can not meet human needs. The understanding of the world is always something fundamentally different from the objective world itself.
People's cognition can influence people's practice. Since some properties of cognition about cars are the same as those of real cars, this cognitive model can lead to correct practice. But the cognitive model doesn't have much in common with the real car. The real car is very complex. The cognitive model can be very simple. Due to the limited ability of memory, learning and thinking, it is difficult for people to apply the complex cognitive model. The simplification of the model is conducive to practice in many occasions.
The original purpose of making simulated products is to make some of the attributes of simulated products the same as the imitated object. But this purpose may not be able to achieve. It is possible that a tiger is drawn like a dog. Human cognition as a simulated product may also fail. No one will buy a bad toy, a wrong knowledge will bring bad results in practice. But sometimes people deliberately make the product different from the object they are imitating. For example, people added four feet and two horns to a snake to draw a dragon. There are no real dragons in the physical world, and this difference can add value to simulated products. The deliberate change is called innovation.
Similarly, the difference between human knowledge and the imitated object can also be made on purpose. The altered knowledge doesn't necessarily have corresponding real object. But Husserl said that there must be a corresponding objective object. The Phenomenology of Husserl is a great bad regression of philosophical epistemology.[1] After the innovation of simulated products, strictly speaking, they are no longer simulated products, but the products of thought games. These thought games can bring increasing value of knowledge and practical benefits. Human culture and civilization mainly come from such innovative thought games.