Competition is eye opening for most. Lee Weems said as a LEO he was scoring 99-100% on his quals and though he was good until he went to his first IDPA competition.
I know I out-shot everyone I knew for accuracy and was ready for something else when I first tried IDPA. My first match my time was about 5 TIMES longer than the match leaders. Eye opening for me as well. Besides keeping me challenged, the best part was subsequent training with some of the Master Class shooters. So worth it!!! Their lessons are still with me today.
I really do enjoy the steel matches, PCC, and 2-gun stuff, but there are limits to the realism with action pistol, in part due to stage design and necessary safety rules. After training and improving in competition, Force-on-Force was really the next "Level" for me. Much more realistic. I'd encourage action pistol competitors try Force-on-Force because it can be just as eye opening as your first competition.