I think it is a great investment. The Realflight G2 Sim is around $200. I bought the Lite version and if I had it to do over I would buy the full version. It is much more configurable and has many more airplanes that can be downloaded. I use it to practice flying my new planes before I attempt to fly the real thing. It will teach you the control very well. You will be way ahead with your flying if you use the sim a lot. The depth perception will definitely not be the same but it will really help. My son learned on the sim and he has not crashed the real plane yet. He only buddy boxed twice before he soloed.