yes Doug, I agree with you-- sim racing has HUGE advantages. My only rl racing experience is with karting, although quite a bit of it, and even then weekends could be extremely frustrating AND expensive. That used to be one of my chief complaints-- race time, track time was always SO little compared to what I was sacrifing wallet wise and time wise once I had a family, especially. And we are talking karting, still amongst the cheapest forms of racing. I remember coming back from the track on a Sunday evening and having to unload everything from the trailer (I was a one man team most of the time...lol), exhausted and pissed because of the day's events...like sim racing I never really won much...now, even when I have a bad day at the sim track, I can just go straight to bed!!!
There are clear disadvantages to it though: I miss the smells, the sounds, the early mornings at the track, and especially the physical demands.

No amount of sim racing can replace the feeling you get when you suddenly wake up on a Sunday morning and find you are half way around the first lap of your 3 minute practice session :P

Sounds like a frustrating weekend Doug, I must admit I never had any like that, but I've had similarly frustrating experiences. But those weekends only make the good ones oh so sweet :D

After only one day rest I'm already thinking it wasn't as bad as I intially thought. We did bring the car home without serious damage (just a little tranaxle problem), and nobody was hurt. Although we wern't nearly as competitive as we should have been we did manage to be only 1 sec. off the new lap record set that day. Still after working all winter to come out smoking and then to be a dud is a huge disapointment. We got third both days but that wasn't much of an accomplishment as the two people we need to beat were ahead.
Doug

Years back, we made the 24 hr tow from Pennsylvania to Daytona only to have an engine failure with no spare. It happened during the first practice, so we loaded up and went another 24 hrs back to Pa. Racing was sure fun!!
As luck would have it we stopped for gas at the same station in Pa on the way down and on the way back. The attendant asked where we were going the first time we stopped and naturally we said Daytona, when we stopped the second time two days later, he was extremely skeptical as to our truthfulness.
Wouldn't trade those days for anything.

I was sim racing before I did real life racing and never really stopped sim racing even while real life racing.

Racing V8's monthly cost
Practice: couldn't afford it most of the time
Entry fee: $400-$700
Travel Exp: $400-$500 (CA, NV only)
Maintenance (tires, pads, fluids, race gas): $1700
Total: $2500 - $2900/mo

a season Results: 2 wins, 8 podiums, 2 DNFs

Racing 125cc shifter Karts monthly cost
Practice: $150 - 3 times a month
Entry fee: $120
Travel Exp: $400-$500 (CA, NV only)
Maintenance (tires, pads, fluids, race gas): $450
Total: $1120 - $1220/mo

a season Results: 2 wins, 3 podiums, 3 top 10, 1 DNF

HPDE Track Day - one day
Practice: N/A
Entry Fee: $200
Travel Exp: $200 (CA only)
Maintenance (tires, pads, fluids, race gas): $1700
Total: $2100 (one time)

Sim Racing
Practice: $10/mo (PG&E)
Entry Fee: $14/mo (R2P)
Travel Exp: $0
Maintenance (CPU/GPU/Controllers/PG&E): $2000/yr ($167/mo)
Total: $191/mo

None of the real life racing includes parts replacements, contact damage, engine blow ups, trannies etc.

As far as fun factor, hmmm... there definitely is more regular fun with Sim Racing and a good deal of intensity, but the physical sensations of real racing and the if I mess up this is gonna cost me adjusts one's perspective (even with sponsor support).

I think what I find most interesting about real life racing is that when shit happens (and it does) my immediate first thought before impact/failure is "how much is this gonna cost me" -- had my share of injuries but fortunately still walking and talking and all limbs attached.

But, I higly recommend that everyone do some real track time and/or racing if you can either find a sponsor willing to back you or you have the disposable funds -- just be sure you have a realistic budget if you spend your own money.