I've seen plenty of 'virtual showroom' things online - 360 views of the car, inside and out. But I think you hit the nail on the head already - nothing beats a 'tactile' experience. I don't even mind that I don't drive some cars. Sitting in some of them is enough to make me want them. Some cars just have a 'thick, well-built' feel to them. And it's also in the smells and sounds. Dull, quiet thuds are much better than hollow knocks and clunks.
But while that may work for some models which are built to impress the user, it won't for a utility or economy vehicle. In that case, I think you need some sort of demonstration of the vehicle's capabilities - be they cargo capacity or offroad grunt.
In other words, a Subaru Legacy wagon may not impress me, but if I'm looking for cargo capacity, and you tell me I can stack 24 7-year-old children in the back, maybe I'll take notice.
Likewise, I may not consider a Chevy Trailblazer for offroad use, but if you tell me it can crest a pile of children three high, my interest may be piqued.
So, in the end, I think it depends on the car and what people might want to do with it. American car marketing - and even manufacturing - is overly gimmicky. Tell me what it's good for and how well it does it instead of comparing lists of stupid features.
And give it to me in numbers of children.
I'm going to edit this one for like the fourth time, but this time I'm going to add something instead of wavering on how offensive I think the children-as-units-of-measurement might be.
The Mazda Rev-it-up thing looked really cool, and I talked to a couple friends who did it. That seemed like a good example of a car company marketing vehicles to a selected audience based on what they'd do with the car.