I actually learned to fly helicopters and turbines on a simulator.
Many years ago I bought a sim called Ambrosia Aero Chopper
fairly cheesy graphics but realistic heli flying.
When I purchased my first heli I was bored of hovering
my first 5 minutes of flight and graduated that same day
into forward flight and the rest was history. When I wanted to learn
how to fly turbines I purchased Real Flight and all of the add ons I flew
every jet on the sim until I could do it in my sleep.
I purchased my first turbine a Cermark MB339 and the rest was history, I did the maiden
flight and flew like a pro my first time out landing took a few go arounds but all went very well.
Simulators graduate you very quick you can get use to the speed of a turbine as well as some of the flying characteristics.
I owe my low inverted flight skills and precision flying all to simulators and hours of practice...

P. Richards aka Swat Team