Systems and methods are provided for providing real-time interactive design and simulation of a physical system to generate comparisons of varying system configurations under different physical conditions. A display is generated on a graphical user interface that displays a part in a physical system according to characteristic data. An initial simulation of the physical system is executed to determine an initial value for a metric of the initial design. The initial value is displayed on the graphical user interface. A system configuration change is received through a user interface manipulation to a first characteristic of the characteristic data or the environment condition. The simulation of the physical system is recalculated to determine a second value for the metric based on the manipulated first characteristic, the second value for the metric being displayed on the graphical user interface along with initial value in real time relative to the received manipulation.