I had been researching this a good bit over the summer. I settled on iracing because it has many of the east coast tracks (WGI, VIR, LRP, MO, SP), the tracks are purportedly amongst the most accurate modeled in a consumer-level sim, and the physics engine is also quite good. Although the fact that you have to purchase many cars and tracks on top of the subscription is annoying. My take away was that a good sim can help you build some directly transferable/applicable skills and improve some skills which are not directly transferable between car-sim.
Directly transferable:
Learning the track, line, etc.
Vision, looking further and further ahead
Getting comfortable with driving in traffic, anticipating other's behavior
Somewhat transferable/effective:
Using vision to gauge speed
Smoothness with steering inputs (force-feedback wheel very helpful)
Improving braking-foot sensitivity, especially left-foot braking (load cell pedal set is a must)
IMHO only reason to go with a console (XBox, PS) would be if you aren't comfortable with computers. Look for deals on the equipment, a few months back I picked up a fairly complete PC, fanatec cockpit and oculus rift setup off craigslist for not much more than a set of tires. The VR takes some getting used to, but I acclimated quickly and now can go 30mins without problems. There is a lot of discussion and an iracing group over on rennlist.
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