I’m undecided since I haven’t been in a kart since last summer to see if the things I’ve been focusing on (such as over driving and listening for audio cues) are beneficial, but at the same time my old wheel setup definitely hid a lot of the things I needed to be feeling, so I’m relearning again.
It definitely helps scratch the itch though.
Anything you can do that puts hand / eye coordination into practice is going to help train your mind, how direct of a benefit that is to karting is another question.
The sim was a much larger benefit to me when I was more heavily into cars vs. karts. Finding a car that’s nearly the same pace as my car allowed me to learn tracks on the sim, generate the rhythm at which corners would come at me in real life in order to be comfortable when I hit a new track for the first time. My first time at Watkins Glen I was within .5 of my ultimate best lap within 3 sessions on track.
This argument would lead me to believe I should try Kart Kraft but based on all the reviews here I just can’t make myself do it.
I recently changed from an old Logitech wheel to a Fanatec DD, and after a quick try of KK again I believe there’s a huge inaccuracy in the Logitech wheels that causes the handling issues. On top of that I was able to drive the kart with the baseline settings where the Logitech made me do extremely unrealistic setups to just keep the kart on the track.
I was actually going to say almost the same thing. I agree that there are two types of incomplete driver, but both can still be good. You can be very fast driving just on feel or be very fast by hitting all your marks. But to be a complete and VERY good driver, you have to be able to be visually acute and have perfect feel of the vehicle. You need both.
So most of us simpleton kart racers probably fall more into one category or another. But top-tier drivers use both techniques.
Do I sim, when I can.
Does it help, not sure it makes a difference to pace but it keeps me sane 
This is accurate and I agree 100%. To be top tier you need both. But remember, 99% of the Karting community are amateurs. And 99.9% are not top tier.
The fact that you guys both admit there are both types at least makes me feel like my ramblings made sense to someone besides me 
With a controller I race a lot. I’m fairly quick, but it doesn’t help me much, other than race craft. Watching pros helps me more.
Anyone have experience having a sim in a college dorm? Is it doable?
I’ll let you know if it’s ever ready for prime-time. Don’t hold your breath. Such a tragedy.
I had a DFGT in my dorm in S Korea, I won quite a few top splits with it
Here in prairie province Canada, we’re in winter from November until Early April with the snow not fully gone until early May. So in order to get any kind of seat time in for those 6-7 months you need to go broke racing indoor rental karts. SimRacing has created a new out for us, it may not be full seat time but you’re still training mentally and (with a wheel setup) the hand/eye/foot coordinations.
Compared to actual seat time in a kart though, no contest. But if a sim can get you in the seat at any hour of the day 7 days a week… why not?
The only "sim"racing I did in college was F-Zero. This was a very fun racing game:
The game takes place in the year 2560, where multi-billionaires with lethargic lifestyles created a new form of entertainment based on the Formula One races called “F-Zero”. The player can choose between one of four characters in the game, each with their respective hovercar. The player can race against computer-controlled characters in fifteen tracks divided into three leagues.
