You can successfully learn how to fly without a sim... I did.

Follow instruction/ guidance from Radd's Flight School to the 't' and you'll be hovering and doing simple circuits with very little damage. Sims can be good for you to start off with, but there's no subsitute for actual flight experience. There are so many factors influencing your heli's flight characteristics that the software can not produce.

As far as the choice of your heli, you have to decide whether you want fix vs. variable pitch type. Your commitment to the hobby will most likely dictate what you're going to choose. For example, get an x-wing heli if you just want to try it out vs. getting a decent model like T-Rex if you plan to stick around with the hobby.