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It may be bleasphemy, but I think that computer-based simulations come with some pretty serious risks. Yes, they can be somewhat useful to learn some things, but I think they can also impart a very dangerous, subconscious feeling of invulneability, or at least a tendency to seriously overcontrol.
It's easy (and fun) to haul around an airplane on your computer, do crazy, daredevil, and suicidal things, and yet you still get to walk away and grab a beer afterwards. I guess it just further desensitizes you to reality (like most things you see on CRTs!).
Even if you don't succumb to insane manoeuvers, I think it's very easy to overcontrol a real airplane after "flying" one on your home computer. On a recent flight around the traffic pattern, my CFI gave me a sharp look and informed me that 45-degree banks were not really necessary to fly a proper pattern. Duh. But that was what I had been getting used to in a flight sim program I had been playing with!
I admit, they *can* be fun though. I like Fly! from Terminal Reality (not the product from that evil company in Redmond....).
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