Started with a $200 wheel and pedals setup, now my rig is worth we’ll over $2.5k and is basically top of the line. Upgraded parts one at a time over the last few years and it’s now as good as it gets.
Photography has me slowly upgrading lenses and eventually a new camera body. Just upgraded to a 200-500 F5.6 lens the other week for when I’m going to shoot the Daytona 24 this coming January.
but, nobody gets into simracing and photography thinking they are cheap hobbies, do they? I mean, sure you can get a start with a low budget but everybody knows the really nice toys are $$$
True, but they started inexpensive. Most everything can be done with a few hundred bucks of hardware in both fields. It's only when you want to get into the really high end stuff that it gets expensive. My $300 used Nikon D3500 works phenomenally for almost everything, and that's true for most entry level gear.
It gets close, but it’s more about the competition. I’m not a real race car driver, nor will I be in the future, so I’m not chasing 100% realism.
You lose the seat of the pants feel, but there’s been a good amount of improvements to hardware over the last few years that have really increased the fidelity of it.