Sim= Saving time and Money in the long run. At night when you cant fly during the week when you come home from school or work. A couple hours a night 3 to 4 days out of the week you will be soloing in no time. You will no doubt have to go on the box for the first couple of flights if you are real good I have seen guys solo after 2 buddy box flights. Providing their plane was set up correctly. I think the sim is a powerful tool for learning to fly. Especially on approaches or generally when the plane is comming at you when all the controls are reversed. If advanced trainnig is in the agenda for the future say like 3D. Then AFP is the sim for you hands down. But for general flight any will do and they are really helpful. IMO