I taught my self to fly with just the flight simulator. Probably have some bad habits but will work on them with time. I believe the hours and hours you can get on the simulator with different planes and conditions can only improve your reflexes and confidence.

About the rudder flying, I had practiced it by taking the 40 trainer in the package and modifying it to just having three controls (no ailerons) just for fun. Lucky for me I had the practice. Because on my first flight with my real trainer I hooked up the ailerons wrong (a good reason to have an instructor). When I got the plane up I immediately knew something was wrong and that the ailerons were not working according to plan, quick thinking allowed me to get the plane under control and on the ground without a major problem (nothing broken) although I didn't land on the runway it was all in one piece without any punctures. I credit this to the hours of training on the simulator.

Another thing you can do with some of the simulators is play around with all the flight characteristics of the airplanes so if you build one that is close to the ones they have simply clone them and change the weights, engines, etc. The only thing that is not too realistic is that the engines always seem to run perfect which has not been my experience at the field.

Good luck