The first place you get overconfident from the simulator is the simulator model is built straight every time... so the trims are centered every time. You get no experience with real world where the trims may need to be off in the corners... (and so you don't know what to do with an untrimmed aircraft.)

The somulators never do mimic real life wind well... they try, but they just don't have the computing hosepower to do it. Its easy to simulate wind speed and speed changes... difficult to simulate the swirling effects you get with houses, trees, bushes..... as much as 1 mile from the flying site a large house can have left some swirls in the wind when that air reaches the airfield.

There will still be a learning curve moving from the sim to the model.

I still recomend at least a few lessons on the buddy box.

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Some will argue this one...:

You might try the Four-Star 40 as your first plane. Its nicely aerobatic. It has the same wing planform as a trainer though... so its a basicly stable design. (wing planform has a LOT to do with stability) Top view... its nearly the same as a typical .40 size trainer... except the control surfaces are larger portions of the areas. The symetrical airfoil makes it much better for your initial work on aerobatics.

Note... the Four-Star 40 must be considered a trainer by Sig... they include the beginner's guide in the box, same as they do for any other trainer.

Any radio within your budget, 4 channel or better will be fine. Preferably one that is buddy box compatible with the local instructor.

Almost any .40 to .46 engine will do very well on the Four-Star 40. An inexpensive Magnum .40 XL with the correct propellor will have the plane able to climb vertically indefinitely.... there is no need for more power than that. Go with a 11X4 propellor (assuming a .40) If you go with a .46... you need more prop... and that can be a problem... you don't want more speed and don't have much ground clearance to play with. 12X4... or APC 12.25 X 3.75.

You want the low pitc to be able to slow the plane down for landing. A higher pitch shorter prop won't help top speed enough to matter.