www.www.sailingworld.com/how-to/how-to-sail-open-60/
Here you can find a real polar/butterfly graph. As you can see, in a TWS 12kts :
- TWA 035° : ~6 kts
- TWA 180° : ~4kts
So, it's not "physically impossible" to proceed at TWA < 45°. Besides, you still get a 50% better speed than at TWA 180°.
Note : that was 10 years ago. Considerable progress has been made.
Unfortunately, in a game, everything is theoretical. I wish I could feel the sea spray in my face, sitting on my sofa.