Video games are ok, the physics arent like the real thing, and you will never get the shitting yourself in your pants rush of the physicality's of being in an actual race car.
Computer game hero's are just that, they think they can do it on the tv then they can do it in a real car. Good luck.
Even the pros use simulators albeit a lot more sophisticated with more realistic physics although still far from perfect and most games probably have some sort of aids (even with all driver aids options off) but i'd guess that a good (in real life) driver would show to be pretty good in the games at the more realistic end of the market so why not use a game as they did in GT academy to judge for the initial stages then they moved onto real cars for the final stages.
In each run I was about 2 secs off the best and ranked just outside the top 500 in the uk with absolutely no idea where or how I could make up that much time and I put that in part down to some of the guys at the top having at least some (real) amateur racing experience.
I agree totally with you that being good in a game doesn't mean you'll be good in real life or that you get a particularly realistic experience but a game could show that someone has potential and Lucas has done pretty well so far.
To use my phone in the car I deleted all my German contacts, it's now Hans free.
