Hate to crash into the Party but I've just got GW sorted and ready to start a Career then I saw the upgrade stuff in this thread and it's wow ! Would it be better to stall the Career until the upgrade; what would happen if you upgrade after starting a Career (I want to avoid another nightmare like I had last weekend !).
I also agree with 'Bigboywooly' about the 'realism' thing..realism is interpretation by the individual.