yup, pretty much what Zed said
esp. with the HO scale cars. This is a very common scale and most affordable and available. It sounds like you want to try this out for the first time.
Flee markets, swap meets, garage sales, and second hand stores (thrift shops) have the 'toy' types there for sale on the cheaps. Unlike Zed mentioned above, I would encourage you to look for the 'toy' Tyco and Lifelike brands in the HO scale for affordability to try sht out. See if you like the hobby before investing your rent into it
These are generally not perfectly detailed for accuracy and are priced lower but the scale is workable