This is just something I have wondered about for a few years without articulating it.
I have found that testing on a virtual machine bears very little relationship to the results obtained and the bugs/difficulties when installing onto bare metal. The vagaries of many different hardware combinations just preclude the smooth and simple experience with a virtual setup.
Tony
Moved to the Lounge, which is for general discussions.
Firstly, I do not do a lot of testing but my experience is perhaps somewhat different.
I found that if there was a hardware issue or bug it would affect either bare metal or the virtual machine with practically no real difference.
Admittedly, I do not use the most up-to-date hardware, as I prefer testing on older machines.
Most of the time, though, I use virtual machines either to test new distros or test things like scripts, systemd service units etc.
Thanks for moving to more appropriate location.
Maybe my difficulties have been exacerbated by having exclusively nvidia GPU’s and some esoteric hardware, tuner cards etc. on my test machines.
All my machines are integrated Intel GPUs.
No exotic or esoteric hardware in sight 
I think there are probably scenarios, Nvidia cards for example, where testing is going to be more challenging.
You are right, it can be very challenging.
I have found using a bootable usb stick with persistence offers a window into how a new o/s will perform on my hardware, but that’s really only good for an Ubuntu based system.
Ahh, that is probably the reason I find such difficulty with testing new distros, that isn’t something I concern myself about; I am always most interested in seeing how a new distro reacts to my hardware, and software Mythtv etc. Also attempting to get my head around using pipewire instead of pulseaudio. The latter is important because I have reduced hearing and need to use headphones a lot. Unfortunately it is an absolute nightmare trying to consistently get my Sony bluetooth headphones working simultaneously with speaker output so we can enjoy watching Mythtv together. No sooner do I get it working then the next time I boot up it doesn’t work. Why oh why do they remove a working system such as pulseaudio before it’s replacement is fully operational? Linux does this time and time again, the devs just don’t seem able to learn. Same with snaps and countless other instances.
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