ALL sims can teach you something...

FMS does a fine job at teaching you orientation, etc.

The more advanced (and more expensive) sims can take you much farther.

As their physics gets more accurate (on the more expensive sims), you can do the same things in the sim that you do in real life and observe the same quirks and characteristics that a real plane of a particular type will have.

Each plane flies differently. In G3 for instance, this is unmistakeable. A properly modeled plane in the sim can be used as a predictive tool for real life.

The sim will pay for itself in parts... and over again in training and routines you can practice w/o crashing.

So why invest in a cheaper one, buy the requisit cords & controller, etc. only to kick yourself later for not having purchased a more accurate sim that includes all of this?

Yeah this stuff is not cheap, but there are some areas where it doesn't pay to be penny wise... such as with the SIM or your TX...

e.g. buy ONE higher priced TX, and that may be the last one you every need or want to buy for a LONG time... since it can handle anything you throw at it. The more experienced flyers tell this to the newbies over and over again, but the newbies rarely listen as they only see the short term costs.