[.:4:.]

Before covid there was a proper slot car track near my house. They shut up shop during covid though. My son and i used to frequent that place. They had 3 proper wooden 6 lane tracks. We both started off with scalectrix cars but after a while went to revos. The revos were ally chassis things designed for racing. So did everything better. We never raced them even though that place had a league going so diferent classes, scruitineering, a buy in so top 3 out of the finals take home cash.
There actually is a bit of science to slot cars when you get into it a bit. Stuff like a dirty wooden track (as in covered with rubber), rubber rear tyres work better, but a clean wooden track foam rear tyres work better. As the cars steer off the guide not the front tyres, all the fast guys coat the front tyres with superglue to make them slippery, reduce front end friction.
As for rc, if your just starting out, theres a few things to take into consideration. 1st is intended use. Theres many different styles of rc cars. 2nd is parts availability and price. So regardless of if its a road car, drift car, off road whatever, at some point something will break. And the 3rd to consider, when starting out, you dont need the fastest most expensive car, however its worth investigating whether there is a higher spec of the same car so in the future if you choose to do upgrades, bits are easy and you know they will fit. So my example here is my 4x4 short course truck. The base has a brushed motor but same chassis. I went next spec up, so same thing just brushless motor stock. My reasoning was i didnt want to spend big if i didnt know if id like the platform. Snapped an axle, no worries bought a set for the heavy duty version that went straight in. Broke a shock, plastic shocks in the bin, ally ones from the model up went straight in. For that truck, there is plenty of aftermarket support and a stack of factory upgrades too.
Same with my monster truck. Knowing parts are cheap and redily available is why im not concerned about my kid or myself beating on them hard. Its more fun that way then taking it easy because parts are expensive, not available at all, or take 6 weeks to get in.