Oh dear, I think I have a problem. I wonder if that counts keys bought for games from other sites like humble bundle redemptions? Even if it does, I guess I should focus on my backlog.

If you're good enough you can compete against real NASCAR drivers. Much cheaper than even the most basic amateur racing such as auto cross.

Uh oh, I've spent about $2,000 on my racing setup (moza r9 wheel base, SR-P pedals, RS V2 wheel, FSR Formula wheel, and ES wheel) and for me its been worth it, but it is ludicrously indulgent. Raced against (drove in the same race 3s slower a lap) a bunch of F2, F3 and F4 drivers and even Romain Grosjean. I was running on a cheap second hand G27 for 6 years before upgrading though, I would recommend going through that first to make sure you really want to race frequently enough to justify the cost.

700 bucks for a wheel is kinda mid tier, I say this with a 300 buck logi wheel.

Starts getting pricing when the drive motor alone is 1000 -2000 see fanatec

Over a decade+ that's not horrendous. I've probably spent around $2000 on computers for gaming in that same period. I know people who've dropped far more than that in a single day for their hobbies so gaming really is a pretty cheap hobby