[woodcote]

Easy - once you've learned how to do it  

There are four Scalextric digital options - 3 of them constant speed ghost cars and one much more detailed and fully-featured...

• ARC Pro + Scalextric ARC app. You'll need to learn how to use the app and there's an easy hack to run as many ghost cars as you want, although they won't count laps individually and they will all have exactly the same power going to them. The fun is weaving around the ghost cars and practising your overtaking skills. Here's a video about how easy it is to set up a single Pace Car with the Scalextric app..
  

• ARC Pro + Magic ARC app. Ghost cars are calibrated individually and can be given user-defined characteristics (fuel, tyes etc) that 'normal' cars have. That gives you a 'proper' race. Again, you need how to use the app. The data for each car can be saved (and backed-up). Here's a video about setting up a Pace Car in the Magic app...
  

• C7042 Advanced powerbase (APB). You'll need to learn how to program the base via the buttons on the base and using the LCD screen. It's not the most user-friendly piece of hardware... The functionality is equivalent to the Magic app ghost cars. Here's an excellent video tutorial about setting up Pace Cars with the LCD tower from a very youthful-looking Greg Gaub...
  

• C7042 Advanced powerbase + RCS64. You connect the powerbase to a Windows computer and run the RCS64 program. The software has basic settings installed, which are no more difficult to learn than the LCD tower. However, the joy of RCS64 is to continually dig deeper into the software to get something as realistic as possible. There are lots of video tutorials on YouTube here. This is a nice video that shows how wonderful - and complex - RCS64 can be...
  

Those are your three basic, single-pace ghost car Scalextric systems - and RCS64, which has the options to be something completely different. RCS64 only works with the C7042 Advanced powerbase.

Of course, it is also possible to upgrade a Scalextric digital layout with Slot.it Oxigen (there is software for Oxigen from the RCS64 guys) or Scorpius.

Where you start and where you end up does depend on your available budget. The two ARC Pro options start at the cost of an entry-level set (Le Mans 24h, Sunset Speedway or the 2020 ARC Pro Platinum GT). The Scalextric app is free, the Magic app is donationware (i.e. you make a donation). This is a basic out-of-the-box system.

The C7042 Advanced powerbase is no longer sold in sets, only as an individual component. There's more about where to buy the various components of the APB + RCS64 system (and approximate prices) here: slotracer.online/community/showthread.php?tid=1056