If I make a character with a perception of 1 will I be unable to hit anything even outside of vats?

Since they specify vats I assume no, for regular combat I imagen its more the guns own accuracy value Plus possibly the associated perks.

With a perception of 1, your character will be considered "legally blind". He or she will be unable to traverse the world of Fallout 4 without running into things constantly. When starting your playthrough of Fallout 4 with this character, you should first attempt to find a pair of glasses. Refusing to do so will result in a character who is unable to defend him or herself, and hitting a target with a firearm will be next to impossible.

*chuckles* Im sure some hardcoe rpg folks would love that to be true.

That's not fair. https://fancastic.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/notfair.gif. Where are you supposed to get glasses in the post-apocalypse?