Yeah, to me, note-by-note perfection is useful as a learning tool sometimes: as a way to learn how other bass players do their thing, as a way to challenge the bounds of what comes to you easily and break out of lazy habits ... But when you're actually performing a song, almost nobody is going to notice minor deviations. They will notice at least subliminally if your feel sucks or the band's energy isn't good.
I've occasionally looked up youtube covers when my band was learning a new song that I had trouble hearing some detail on the record that seemed important. I wish this had existed when I was starting out 35 years ago! One thing that's always interesting is to compare multiple covers because they usually differ from each other and there's usually something that seems "wrong" to me. Lately the band decided to play Zeppelin's "Good Times Bad Times" and there's a lot going on there, not mixed particularly well on the original, so Youtube was very helpful to figuring it out quickly. I found a few different videos and picked and chose things from each. In the end it's all just a starting point and I go with playing whatever feels good with the band in the room.
