I've gone to more tactical training courses than pretty much anyone I know. They were great and I learned, practiced and honed a lot of skills. Not a single course I've taken put me under any significant psychological or emotional stress. Many courses like Urban Rifle and even Precision Rifle (a/k/a counter-sniper school) involved a lot of physical stress.
I agree that when a timer is added to the mix, it's a game, unless we're talking about timing the draw to first shot fired. Nevertheless, when shooting in competition, it adds pressure that cannot be duplicated in tactical training courses. There is great value in that whether you admit it is training or not. It may not be "tactical training," but there is an element of emotional/psychological/physiological learning.
There is no serious argument that USPSA/IPSC even remotely replicates self-defense shooting. However, to claim that IDPA scenarios are not reflective of self-defense scenarios based upon a relatively few matches with even fewer clubs is unfounded. Our scenario designer, Mark Stavrakis, is a master at the craft and our monthly matches are better than all regional matches and most state championships. (Yes, I'm biased, but I'm also correct.) His scenarios are challenging not only from a skill-at-arms perspective, but also from a mental or decision-making perspective. There is great value in that, especially in terms of target identification, target acquisition and engagement. Yes, a timer makes it a game, but it also encourages people to shoot fast due to the mental pressure. Guess what, so does fear when you are in an actual self-defense situation. Once again, using a timer does add an element of "training" although IDPA remains a game.
I agree that some tactics used by people wanting to win a match v. survive a deadly encounter do not help them prepare for a real gunfight. I will never win IDPA matches because I shoot them like I would fight. For example, when it's possible under the rules and scenario description, winning the match would encourage shooters to get close to the target so they can shoot faster with fewer points down. I distance myself from what scares me and rely upon my marksmanship. When doing a "tactical reload," most shooters stuff the partial magazine in a pocket or anywhere other than the mag carrier. They tell others not to put it back in the mag carrier. When I do a "tactical reload," I grab the last mag on my belt, then put the partial mag in its place. Yes, it's slower to do it that way, but if I need that partial mag later in a fight, it'll be much faster to get it out of my mag carrier than out of my pocket.
The author of the article I linked is a SWAT team member and trainer. His experience in the real world supports the contention that competitive shooting in action sports improves performance in gunfights. Call it a game, call it training, ridicule it if you will, but at the end of the fight, the guys who train AND COMPETE, tend to do better on a two-way range.
Chas.