A sim can teach you SOME tings...but there is no substitute for learning from some one elses experience. You can learn how to move your sticks, and learn about control reversal and when it applies...but you can't learn the proper way to set up your plane on a simulator. That comes from "real world" experience. The perspective on your computer screen doesn't allow you to really "see" your plane as it will appear in reality.

I say as others surely will too...get an instructor...it will make the learning curve a lot sharper, and your "investment" a lot smaller in the long run, due to the money you will save on "crunched balsa".

Believe it!

Sims on the other hand can sure keep the old thumbs in tune when you run into down time (a result of "crunched balsa").