Agreed that Nolan's Batman is still unrealistic. He's just *more* realistic.
To me, the realism was forgivable for BB and TDK because they were about Batman in his younger years as a crimefighter and based on comic stories that took place in his early years, which for the most part were very grounded in reality (especially Year One and Long Halloween). Year One felt even more grounded than both the first two Nolan Bat films to me. The way the Batman universe is structured in the comics is brilliant. It starts out as a very grounded in reality crime drama with stuff like Year One. Then, as Batman's career continues, he begins to attract "freaks" to Gotham and Gotham slowly changes from a realistic crime drama setting to the supervillain-filled Gotham in the current comics. Always loved that evolution of Gotham in the comics. And before details about TDKR were even announced, I was OK with the realism because I felt like that's what they were going for. Batman Begins was very realistic just like Year One (way more realistic than TDK). TDK then came out and was still realistic but a lot less realistic than BB and talked about how "freaks" like the Joker showed up in Gotham since Batman first debuted. Its realism was similar to Long Halloween in terms of realism (minus stuff like Poison Ivy & Solomon Grundy). It looked to me that they were going for the evolution of Gotham that they did in the comics. By that plan, TDKR would have been less realistic than BB and TDK (it kinda still will be less realistic than TDK but not by much) and would have continued to address how the world of Batman is changing and so on. Batman 4 (if it would have happened) would have been even less realistic than TDKR and so on. It seems to me this was their original plan.
However, it looks like they changed their plan. This mostly happened due to Heath's death and them not being able to use the Joker. I feel that if Heath didn't die and reprised his role, we would have continued to see the evolution of Gotham in the films. The realism shouldn't exist by this point in TDKR since it takes place 8 years into Batman's career (I count the years of retirement).
It's a damn shame. If they would have continued with their "evolution of Gotham" plan, Nolan's Batman might have fit in a JL movie.
Also, people miss the point to my problem with him retiring for 8 years. It's not an adaptation or representation flaw; it's a continuity flaw. That doesn't add up with the ending and character arc of Bruce in TDK. Whether or not it's a loose or fully accurate representation of Batman is irrelevant. It doesn't change the fact that it's a major continuity and character development flaw.