From simulation to real flight

Hi,

I'm curious about something. How many here started using flight simulators like FS2004, then went on to taking real flight lessons and getting your pilot licenses? If you did go about it in this order, could you comment on how your experience with simulation may have enhanced and/or hindered any aspect of your actual flight training?

I'm really enjoying the "lessons" included in FS2004, and I'm sure the flying parts of the lessons will be even better once I replace this joystick with a yoke and pedals. I'm certainly learning something about the basic physics of flight, about how the various guages work, and so on, but I'd like to know how well you feel the "ground school" aspects of these simulator programs correspond to your experience of "real" ground school. Are there many aspects of actual flight training that are not covered so well in these FS sim lessons? Or are these lessons pretty representative of what one might find in flight training?

I don't know all the right questions to ask at this point, so please feel free to comment about anything that might be of interest to someone who would like to eventually take real flight lessons.

Thanks!

I went one step further and purchased the Cessna Multimedia Training System, which really tells you what you are getting involved in. There are many things that the M$FS can't cover, since the subjects are vast. I also went on a trial flight to find out how things are in real, and that bought me.
The experience is overwhelming and the last thing I thought of was to figure out the similitudes, but you definetely look at the instruments in an advanced" manner, since they look quite familiar. I am booked for an intense JAR-FCL PPL course this spring in Scotland, I am really looking forward to it!