Yeah this is the way. I'm tented to go this route on my Mac but the licensing module won't work on ARM chips: Short answer: it’s not crazy to run Split Second in a VM—but only if you control the variables. The two biggest risk areas you called out (the USB license dongle and the timer I/O) are real. Here’s the straight path that works reliably, plus what to avoid.
Your go/no-go decision tree
1) If your MacBook Pro is Apple Silicon (M1/M2/M3):
Running Split Second in Parallels with Windows 11 ARM is a no-go because the Sentinel/HASP hardware key that Split Second uses is not supported on Windows ARM. Thales (the dongle vendor) is explicit: “Sentinel HASP keys … are not supported” on Windows ARM; LDK works via emulation but not the HASP/HASP-HL USB keys you plug in.
Your go/no-go decision tree
1) If your MacBook Pro is Apple Silicon (M1/M2/M3): Running Split Second in Parallels with Windows 11 ARM is a no-go because the Sentinel/HASP hardware key that Split Second uses is not supported on Windows ARM. Thales (the dongle vendor) is explicit: “Sentinel HASP keys … are not supported” on Windows ARM; LDK works via emulation but not the HASP/HASP-HL USB keys you plug in.