qemu is a good way to experience with kernel hacking
Hopefully someone can update the LDD(linux device driver) and Linux kernel books. In fact Linux Foundation should sponsor such efforts since technical book like this is hard to make any profit.
I've written a little bit about writing a driver & using QEMU to create a custom device for it at [0] & [1]
[0]: https://blog.davidv.dev/posts/learning-pcie/
[1]: https://blog.davidv.dev/posts/pcie-driver-dma/
Are you the David V from Meta, who had bytelab.codes? I recently discovered that blog, and was very excited by the content, only to find he last updated in 2022. Either way, I’m excited to see your site, too! I love finding well-written kernel-level stuff.