Sure your home simulator likely isn't the same but still. My flight school has a program now where we start people in a redbird for 3-4 lessons just to get the general idea of things first (checklist usage, what the controls do, etc) before hopping into the real plane and the results have been VERY good. You're sitting at your desk! But overall there's a reason that sims and FTDs are industry standard. I'm a little confused by the argument that it feels nothing like the real thing. Hell, you could even get a real weather briefing every time, that could go a long way. When you practice just start on the ramp with the engine off and as you go, pause and think what should I be doing now, what airspeed should I be at, what airspace am I in, what comms should I be doing etc. Just make sure you're doing it right (practicing barrel rolls in a 737 is fun but ultimately not useful for a PPL). Hmm I'm definitely gonna go against the grain here and say that if you want to buy a sim to become more familiar with aviation, ATC, procedures (huge), and generally just getting your head in the game then absolutely go for it. Good luck with your training and enjoy it!! You can get photo realistic scenery for every flight sim so you can see the landmarks you'll likely be looking out for. At that point you should be able to fly the plane and the sim may be useful for practising a cross country in advance. If you're still adamant that you want to use a sim I strongly suggest you wait until you at least get to the navigation part of your training. This way you'll actually develop the muscle memory. Print it off as big as possible and sit in your room and actually move your hands to "touch" the correct thing. That's literally just a picture of the cockpit of the plane you fly. To train checklist procedures and cockpit familiarisation get yourself a paper cockpit. You'll understand what I mean after your first flight but it's simple things like a gust of wind will deflect the yoke and you will need to compensate accordingly. Sims also don't develop your stick and rudder as you just can't model the flight model of a plane in enough detail. In your PPL just focus on trying to learn to fly the damn thing. Sims are great for training Ifr and procedures but remember you need to be a vfr pilot FIRST. The sim causes you to focus on your instruments too much and develop bad habits. I have a sim background and am currently doing my PPL.
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