They can't afford to have a rookie. They need drivers with experience that can help develop the car.
I'm on it as well, about finished but I'm very much hooked really want to continue.
I didn't even know chat existed until a few months ago when I logged in from a new browser that didn't have RES.
If you already have a router no need to buy other cables/hardware. It's a piece of tech specifically design for networking. Just share the drive on the network and go at it. I think average wifi speed is like 1Gbps.
They can't afford to have a rookie. They need drivers with experience that can help develop the car.