For me, it was kinda natural to tell my girlfriend. We've been going out about a year and four months (shy a week and a half), and shes always known (even before we started dating) that I liked driving cars. She has even commented on me being a good driver (although I take it with a grain of salt, as she compliments a lot of people on things and isn't always earnest...).
Anyways, I expressed my interest of getting into racing with her, and she didn't take THAT too well. Seen far to many people to get hurt on TV and online to understand that autocrossing is a lot safer than bumper to bumper racing. When I found LFS, I told her, and she was really happy. If I say the game was a 'realistic simulator', she belives me, and doesn't view it as a 'game' persay. More like a hobby. Although she still can't belive I bought the G25: "HOW MUCH on a toy?"... Oops
But onto topic... Is it geeky? I think its a fine line. Its a great, safe, and cheap outlet for the urge/desire to race for real. But there comes a point, much like real pilots play flight simulators, they're still raise eyebrows at the guy with a 30 moniter setup for full 360 vision and flight controls.
My verdict? No. Although that possibly could be a biased opinion to save my fragile self esteem