I was in your shoes about 4 months ago, you will be happy you are getting into planes! For me they are way more fulfilling than cars/trucks/boats because of the amount of skill it takes to do some of the maneuvers that you see. That said, do yourself a favor and buy a trainer plane. You will learn quickly and probably not have much trouble with the whole "when it is coming at you the controls are reversed" thing because of your car/truck experience. There is just a lot more for you to learn though. For example, with a car you are MOVING at 50+ MPH while pretty much any .40 size trainer will do that in a dive (maybe even a straight line... note sure never clocked mine but it goes pretty good!). That twist will be TOUCHY for a beginner even on lower rates, I just don't know if you will have that much fun because you might be on the verge of disaster the whole time. You could try something like an Ultra Stick. That has high wings but is very acrobatic as well. Just make sure you find a club and get hooked up with an instructor. They will point you in the right direction!

Most of all, have FUN and welcome to the most challenging RC item you have tried so far!