Get the sim, you won't be disapointed with the results. I got tired of the sim for a while until I started practicing knife edges, flat spins, and other moves to sharpen my skills even more. Much better to crash on the sim than the real thing. If anything it will teach you which way to move what stick verrrrry quickly. I also soloed very quickly when I was a novice as a result of using realflite.............