It could be a bit of a leap, yeah. On consideration, the distinction between LFS and iRenting fanboyism in this context has to come down to pricing model - since pretty well everyone who is a fan of LFS and is involved in this thread has a common desire for a racing sim with maximum emphasis on realistic "gameplay" and cars that behave as they would if they were real.
So, let me define my LFS fanboyism in terms of pricing model. I am a massive fan of the LFS model. The principle motivation behind LFS seems, to me at least, to be to deliver a licence to the most physically realistic racing sim. The price, £24, I think is very low and lends itself to a COLOSSAL return on investment with respect to value for money (my driving economic passion in all of life). What I received for my £24, and also what has been gifted to me since makes it the best £24 I ever spent. Genuinely.
What I don't accept is that I cannot be a fanboy of two sims at the same time. The fact is that I AM a fan of two.. I love RBR with a passion. It's a crackin' good sim, and for the £5.99 or whatever that I paid for it, it too has delivered a mammoth return on my investmenet.
Therefore, I *could* be a fanboy of iRental too. I have the desire for the product, there's no question about that.. it seems to clearly have a similar motivation behind it in terms of racing simulation. It has a premise of structured racing.. so it's definitely facing in the right way for me. The only issue, really, is the return on my investment. That, as I've explained, is a very important thing to me.
Firstly, the rental system. iRacing is technically iRental. If you don't keep up your payments, you won't have uninterrupted gameplay. I would never choose a mortgage over a purchase. Secondly, the relationship between the investment and return in terms of hours of use. There are times when, with the best will in the world, I just don't have time to go racing. I don't know, at the beginning of a month, if I will have the time through the month to spend even an hour racing. If I do, I don't know from day to day whether or not I'll be able to do it again the next day. The potential for me to experience 0% return on a monthsworth investment is far too great. Lastly, but by no means least, my observations to-date suggest that iRental subscribers are going to be paying hand-over-fist for, what I perceive to be, unnecessary development costs. The problem is that I am going to have to invest in the product to be able to determine if my investment is worth the investment.
I am not, nor ever was, nor ever will be anti-iRacing. In fact, there is a lot of potential for me to be massively PRO-iRacing. Unfortunately there are too many obstacles right now between me making the leap into being an iRacing customer. And that has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with me being an LFS fanboy.