I had the same thoughts as the OP a few weeks back, the game was cheap, it claims it's a sim, or at least sim-like, so why not try it?
I played for about an hour and did not enjoy myself. The cars seemed floaty and the graphics (while not the most important thing) seemed off, hard to describe.
Time is much better spent playing Forza 4, Forza Horizon, and GT5 if you are looking for a sim, or NFS:HP if you are looking for a arcade racer. F1 2012 is decent as well, although it's only F1 and it's still new so no breaks on price.
regardless of what you do, there are plenty of other choices out there for racing fans.