RE: The Best way to practice flying???
If you have a sim, crank in as many nasty environmental factors as you can -- strong gusty crosswinds, etc -- otherwise it won't even approach reality.
What you really need is a ton of sim time, PLUS an instructor & buddy box -- that will get you safely up -- & more importantly -- safely down in the quickest possible time.
Doing it on your own is possible, but the odds are very much against success.