ORIGINAL: patnchris
Scale planes, while flying slow, to an experienced pilot, can seem very fast, to someone who's learning.
This is an understatement. First time out flying my Estarter (after flying slower 3 channel planes), I only had the courage to fly one pack. A faster plane would only take you to the crash site sooner.
Make sure you can put the plane where you want it in the sim. Learn to land it too. Once you can "do it all" in the sim, don't think all of this will transfer to the field. It will make learning easier, but not flawless. After a few flights on the G3 demo sim, I was able to fly the trainer low and inverted over the runway using the computer keyboard as my controller. I don't even try this stuff (yet) outside....