Firstly, welcome to our world of airplanes. The simulators are great! BUT, they do not teach you everything you need to know. Your car experience will help, especially if it was nitro cars as you will be pleased to learn nitro plane engines are easier to tune and last decades as aposed to a season or two. I have a 40 year old engine that still runs strong. Before I recomend a single plane I will advise you to get with a local club and an instructor. Almost any trainer airplane can get the job done and you may find one at your local club that is either cheap or even free to use for newbies. By your post it seams you will want to progress towards 3D aerobatics but I urge you to progress to it and not jump to it. Now their are several trainers out their (good first planes) and everyone has their favorites. I am fond of the ones that have semisemetrical airfoils like the Hobbico Avistar and Hanger 9 Arrow. You can speend as much as $1000 on your first set up or as little as about $350 after you get all of your feild equipment. At the top of this forum you will see a sticky thread with a list of good trainer planes.

Give us a better idea of what your looking for as far as budjet and power type (nitro/electric).