I think the sim can do the bulk of teaching to fly. It will definetly help dumb thumbs. Also, I think in a lot of things the sim is harder. You dont have the perspective with the sim like in real life. I think takeoff is a little too automatic on G2 (not very accurate for tail draggers especially). But overall I can do anything with my plane that I can do on the sim. I cant imagine a program being too much closer to reality. Remember its only a computer.