Honestly
I played AC but since minorating stopped their work I don't like the game at all anymore.
2e rFactor 2 I have it and think it's only fun when u do leagues I never enjoyed it
last iRacing I will never rent a game and I believe many are like minded.
btw also tried automobilista but all these sims never gave me the fun I had in LFS.
I think the big plusses for LFS are.
good spectating mode easy chat good insims.
ad better graphics + updated interiors and maybe tyre physics and maybe LFS on top again.
And another problem is many guys never heard about lfs and just check steam for games.
I think the communities are bit fragmented now there more race sims. But I think LFS can get defo back.
atm I have great fun in Wreckfest while waiting Not really a sim but good enough.
Ye I know there is a hard learning cuve. And most people online play for years. BTW wonder what track and car u did becourse 1.30 isn't possible at BL1 XFG/ XRG.
I believe Freenas is mainly build to work true a webinterface and there aren't many setup options so I believe u have to work arround the system for that.
So I think he can better use an other small Linux option to run wine.
think the m.2 defo faster but my eyes can't see difference.
the m.2 u just put in mainboard some cover over it and u never know it's there
But I have to work on my fan noise level (quiet anoying) and it's just 1 fan that blows the air into my case. When GPU is fully used and all 3 fans blow at max also noisy But happy with my Corsair liquit cpu cooler it has 2 fans but I hardly hear those
Edit: My Old system was i7 3770k, 16 GB @1600, 250GB SSD (sata) with gtx1060. (my son happy with it)