Not sure. It depends on what you want out of it.
I bought a CT late this past summer so that I could practice the IM-USA course this winter. After using it once or twice, I let it collect dust while I rode outside whenever possible. For X-mas I also bought rollers (I’m up to 72 seconds today without grabbing the bar! because a second CT and computer would have been too expensive, and my SO and I were having problems both wanting to use the CT at the same time. If I had to do it all over, I would have purchased Power Cranks first (probably my next purchase), rollers second, new NightRider lights third, and then maybe a CT fourth.
The biggest CT downside has been the very clunky and non-intuitive user interfaces. So expect a long learning curve (which I am still going through). For example, the latest 3d software update at last allows you to start at any point on a course. You do that by entering the mile number in a text entry box on the page BEFORE the race screen, but to have it take affect you must hit the CT’s F1 key once to “start the race” then again during the start countdown to have your special start location take affect. Their readme raves about this as a great UI design. Personally, I would have designed it so that you enter the distance on a screen which shows both the race profile and your selected distance on that race profile, also if you bothered to enter a special start distance why hit F1 twice? If I wanted to really have a nice UI, I would also have let the user’s mouse drag the bike icon over the course profile to pick the starting location. The CT software does not really take advantage of the mouse at all.
The other big CT annoyance has been calibration, required every time for accurate repeatable results, and the need to warm up the system before doing that calibration. I must admit I often don’t bother to calibrate, which defeats much of the purpose in buying a CT instead of something cheaper.
The most fun so far has been riding against saved performances.
In theory, the CT should also be very good at generating very repeatable workouts, and measuring your performance. I have not used that capability yet nearly as much as I intended when I purchased the system.
In my own household, the need to swap bikes (mine/hers) has also been a downside. I often wish I had purchased two less expensive systems we could leave setup instead of the CT.
I have never tried to race against someone else in real-time. I think you could probably exchange performance files via email, and “race” against someone else that way.
I think you need 3d for the polar spin scan, which is neat, but while I can now see what I am doing wrong in real-time, that has not made it easy to fix!
If I have read the manual correctly, I could probably do all the formal workouts I originally intended using the “new” coaching software (and I wouldn’t need as good of a PC either). However, I have hardly used the coaching software yet at all.
I don’t think I’ve done a single full “race” using the 2d software. With 3d available there did not seem to be much point.
I hope that helps.
-Bill