Well, I still rather prefer keep picturing the MC as some version of myself. I think designing and choosing a name for him beats all the purpose of naming him at the start and make all the choices by yourself, that I suppose is make you believe you really are that MC...
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I've never ever gotten that impression for myself playing this game. the MC already has their own personality starting out, and reacts to various things automatically that I myself would never do or say (like rejecting sex for example), so because of that I can never imagine the MC as me. I only see the MC as their own individual character that you can mildly project on to but is still is their own person. Those are my opinions on the matter anyways.
Well, I suppose that may vary from one person to another, I myself can relate a lot to the MC. At least the me on my 20s, with all of that about the military dad, having to leave home because of him, being self conscious about my body in public places, waiting for something special instead of rushing into sex... There's a lot about that character that resembles the old me and makes it easy to place myself into the story. But as you said, that's relative.