Accuforce has become the only respectable purchase before it's even released... strange, but I like that.
Reality is, they're ALL way too expensive. They claim niche markets get niche pricing, but after seeing how many friends will spend years of their like playing Forza and GT(x), but you even mention getting a real wheel/pedal combo or even just a good ol' G27 from BestBuy or whatever the hell, and BAM. no frickin way are they gonna pay the cost of the entire machine again just to get a wheel. And of course cheap wheels just don't cut it for most people's demands.
So, where does that leave us....? At the mercy of the "Quality over quantity" equation, and they know it. NONE of the products are priced with any other incentive than to charge as much as people are willing to pay for it. I'm not even complaining. That's Capitalism folks.
Also, instead of paying 4G for a gaming wheel, you could always build an autocross car and "actually" race. Sim wheels don't seem so important when you can stand in the garage with reality.
These days, talent does count, but a lot of Sim racing is down to who's got more money to spend on a better responding rig than the next person. Ironic, seeing as racing is generally made to be so completely even of a playing field as to penalize weight simply because a driver is skinnier than another, LOL.
When everyone is on the same wheel/pedals with the same system, CPU, GPU, RAM, then, and only then, will sim racing step up to the next level.