Cheers for your replies.  I ended up buying the sim last Saturday.  I have installed it, registered it and added all the free updates.  And I am loving it.  I don't get to spend a lot of time on it (about 10mins at a time maybe a couple of times a day)  but I have tried out quite a few different planes starting with the PT-40 and can handle most of them pretty well now including landing them safely and softly.  I also downloaded the LT-40 which is the plane I am going to build and planning to train on and I have pretty much mastered that.

The next thing I should probably do though, is add a bit of wind.  What is the normal sought of wind that most people would class as "acceptable" to fly in?  Keeping in mind that I am a begginer with no experience.