[Devils41]

Sorry must have miss interpreted before in a nut shell for me its worth it.
I got into Sim racing after doing a few track days in my old car and a couple performance schools. It did itch the scratch but still doesn't have that same adrenalin rush, G-forces and danger of actually being on track. I've only Auto crossed my G80 so far but even there I couldn't replicate that same feeling with my setup.
I come from a Baseball background and used to be a Pitcher so the best analogy I can make is instead of Throwing in a actual game its like throwing a scrimmage/ Bullpen.
It gives you the same feel and allows you to practice some crafts and no doubts allows you to improve. It wont ever replace the real thing (Atleast today) but with VR/ good graphics its the closest I could get.

Cost wise both money and time, I guess its going to differ on your budget. The nice things about a sim setup is a track day is anytime you want where a weekend you have to dedicate more time to, prep, driving, waiting etc.

We have our first kid on the way so I know my ability to track will be more limited coming up, and having a sim setup will help me to escape a little so I'm happy I have it. There might be some places you can go locally to mess with a simulator, that might give you a good baseline on if it will work for you. Some guys I know that that track regularly love sims, some don't, its a mixed bag