Me personally, I just did time trials to get my SR up in the Legends after having some of the same frustrations you've mentioned.
Late Models are where it's at! Much cleaner racing, more power, and a more "proper" race car compared to that little Yamaha powered POS they call a "car".

Oh..and avoid the SK Modified. Well...honestly, it's a TON of fun. I like it better than the Late Models...But iRacing has reduced the schedule to only 2 days a week. So if you do buy it, right now you can only Race, TT, or Practice with it on Wed and Sat. Of course, you can test with it all you want...just no "official" sessions.