We have no real solo requirements, but an experience today may very well cause that to change. You can read about it in another thread if you'd like.

As far as sim vs. life, well I'd say it depends on who you ask and what aspect you're referring to.

Sims do not replicate nerves, people, sounds, birds on the strip, hawks chasing your plane, mid air collisions, glow engines being tuned behind you, girlfriends at the field hoping to see a few good crashes, etc.

Sims are a game, and you can hit a reset button. You can do things on a sim that can not be done in real life, things like extreme slow flight with certain planes, etc.

I think once you become an established pilot, the simulators restrictions become apparent. We get into some pretty complicated physics with our planes, and it's hard enough to describe them, let alone replicate them in a use friendly software interface.

To me, the sim seemed very easy at first and flying in real life was more challenging. Now, a sim is very crude (I have used a few different ones) and either holds me back or can teach me bad habits.

I fly a lot by feel, and a simulator simply does not feel like a real airplane, no matter how expensive it was.