I am right now thinking about simracing as a way to meditate. You totally have to just focus on perception, no thinking, no ego, no self, nothing but the car and the road, and you repeat, and repeat, and repeat the track, over and over.
It works your mind, without any harmful effects (that I know of).
Well, I kind of do that from time to time. Play old videogames my mind can do it in autopilot mode. But I do not consider that too helpfull for myself. Sometimes it is. But on average I would say not.
You still have the flickering screen, which I think is not god for my head for too long. And I have the screen already for work, so I rather go outside, when I can.
One very simple technic to calm the mind while walking (or running or sitting) is use peripheric vision. Meaning the gaze is not focused, but wide. Seeing all at once. My theory is, that this uses more brain processing power, which leads to useless thoughts going silent. And breathing. And feeling. And smelling. And listening.
(so a nice area is recommended)
I mean more about the experience of driving. Clicking buttons is quite different to feeling the road through the steering wheel. In a normal video game you can just memorize the timing sequence.
I am trying to highlight the "focus on perception" part of the experience.
I would love to go and drive in an open road somewhere remote. And see and smell all these real things.
But I can't use my car right now (without paying a fine for breaking quarantine) so I use simracing.
I read some spiritual books about LSD in my late teens and I almost believed the "holy spiritual drug changing consciousness" motive.
But I was cautious and never took it and wanted to wait for the right time (it never came so far). One of the main reasons of waiting longer was, that I met some LSD gurus in real live - who where just retards.
So I focused more on staying clear .. but a bit later I also met quite some "clear" people who never do or did drugs, but only meditated - and they were also so disconnected from reality, I found it even quite faszinating. Not illuminated. Just disconnected.
So, when I meditate, my focus is to connect more to reality. And to find a balance between it all. Drugs can be tools. Various meditation technics can be tools. Nothing is the universal golden way. Find the right balance of technics, that works for you. That is my takeaway after quite some years exploring the area.