funny that this experience will be forever your own (and a very few others') exclusive piece of memory since I am not going to pay a single dime to those who won't give me a comprehensive try first, to test out if what they are claiming is "realistic"
FYI:
GTR2 put me off once before with an not-selectable (greyed-out) "sim"-option on their demo
-> and buying that piece of boredom after it dropped below 10€, I now have the confirmation first-hand why it has never been worth more than that (to me at least).
I actually don't dislike iRacing's claim to receive a continous amount of money from their user-base in order to keep development on par with the users' demands and overall competetive standards. Just the pay-before-you-try puts me off quite effectively: that's exactly not the way to attract my attention. Regarding that other people have come a long way before without resorting to such idiocity - they should seriously reconsider their attitude towards the market