[1997TA]

I am fairly new to the road racing arena. Would practicing road-racing via realistic video gaming at home help my driving skills? Or, would it be a waste of time?

[z28tt]

I think GTR2 is very helpful (one of the best racing sims, IMHO, and it's only $20 at best buy). It's great to learn a track before you get there. This way you can focus on the car & driving, rather than trying to just get comfortable on a brand new track. The same concepts can be used - learn the line, pick your brake/turn-in, gas, apex, track out points and try small changes when you can run consistent lap times.

Even though you don't feel the g-forces in a video game, the physics are modelled pretty well where the video game car will do what a real car would in the same situation. In GTR2, you can edit the setup files manually to better simulate an f-body (change the gearing, move the center of gravity forward, change the dyno curve to match your car, etc) and really have it simulate your car well. Anyways, video game driving is much harder than real world, so if you can get good at it, it'll be helpful.

You'll want a steering/pedal set. My $80 Logitech Force Feedback is OK, but I just don't have a good feel for the brake (it uses a spring for resistance, so it doesn't feel the same as real brakes). I've heard the G25 is nice.