If you read the conclusion it does say it would be better to keep your cats indoors because of all the associated risks.

Except the conclusion does not state that - regardless of how much you want it to. Please have someone explain that to you.

You really need a study to say to you that thousands of years ago cars weren’t as much of a risk?

Did you even try to read that study you linked? There are more risks than cars and their severity depends on time and location. Is it to hard a concept that in former times e.g. the risk of predation, disease , and other accidents combined with lack of access to veterinarians pose a higher risk?

But there’s such a strong emotional aspect to it that I just can’t understand ..

Similar to this snippet all of your replies seem to be motivated by emotion only - so much that it impairs your ability to assess your own sources. Just because you want your source to agree with you it doesn't mean it really does.

... to accept the obvious conclusion.

Again, there is no obvious conclusion. There are no absolutes here - there are pros and cons related to both. How big they are varies by location (see e.g. #2.2 paragraph of the study you linked). I'd like to add that the character of the cat also plays a very massive role - This is missing in this particular study though. Again, have someone explain it to you. Alternatively you could feed it to an AI (see below).

I'd guess most cat owners would prefer their cat|s stay indoors, at least in cities (me being one of them tbh). Some cats don't accept being locked up though - regardless of the amount of entertainment provided.

(AI) E.g. here is what mistral.ai answers to "does this study say you should only keep cats indoors?"

The study does not explicitly state that cats should only be kept indoors. Instead, it presents a balanced review of the risks and benefits associated with outdoor access for cats. The study discusses various welfare concerns related to uncontrolled outdoor access, such as increased risks of disease, parasites, injury, and predation, as well as negative impacts on wildlife and human neighbors. However, it also acknowledges the welfare benefits of outdoor access, including the opportunity for cats to engage in natural behaviors like hunting, exploring, and climbing, which can improve their physical and mental well-being.

Overall, the study emphasizes the need for further research to better understand the impacts of different housing and enrichment strategies on cat welfare, as well as the attitudes and practices of cat owners regarding outdoor access.

Assuming you have noone explaining complicted stuff to you or you being unwilling to listen to advice: Feed the study to an AI with reasoning engine (e.g. deepseek) and ask some questions about it. Make sure to ask whether the study is biased and whether (obvious) factors have been omitted. You can learn somehting there as the analytic capacity of AI with reasoning engine is vastly superiout to yours.