I am a bit surprised to hear so many people do not fully appreciate simulators. I am sure the simulator greatly accelerated my learning to fly RC.

I got G4 a couple weeks before I had my model and learned to fly RC in G4. Only recently have I been able to catch up with a real instructor. We had a single flight on the buddy box and then he said I was done because I was already doing all they were teaching. Of course I am not an aerobatic pro, but they were only doing a beginners class and said I would be wasting my time.

So for me the simulator enabled me to fly my first plane from day-1 of having it. I also recently upgraded to a more advanced model and I spent a lot of time in the simulator preparing for the jump up. I do not think any plane in the simulator really exactly matches the flight of my new model, but by flying a wide variety of planes in the simulator prepared me to handle my new plane from day-1.

Sure I could have accomplished the same thing by hanging out at the field every Tuesday and participating in the beginner flying class, but how many weeks or months would have gone by before I could solo and how many crashes would I have had in the first flew flights of soloing! Anyway the simulator really allowed me to start enjoying the hobby a lot quicker.