Why all the hype around self directed 401k's

[Nicholas Patrick]

I'm not new to real estate investing, but still inexperienced. Why do people fawn over self directed 401k's. I mean, you get to invest in real estate tax free. That's absolutely amazing, BUT you can't start pulling out your money until almost 60. So if you want to retire early, aren't they pretty much useless. Maybe I'm missing something about it. Hope I'm posting this in the right forum.