AirWaterloo,
Welcome to the group. I agree with the negative sentiments with respect to home computer flight sims, and worse, the users of these casual systems teaching themselves bad habits.
You have advice from some really experienced pilots and trainers here, and I agree with it. We learned to fly just after paper became a new idea. Computers were sliderules. And we learned well. Sure, there are excellent innovations in electronic technology to support piloting. These innovations will result in systems I grew up with fading into history, that's evolution, and as it should be.
But, the basics of piloting will remain unchanged, and must be learned. Preparing to fly a plane is excellent, prepare by reading the guidance material linked to you earlier, and the flight manual for the aircraft. It's very easy to find scans of single Cessna flight manuals on the internet. For the detail you need now, most any Cessna flight manual for a 100 series fixed gear, later than 1975, will be in a format, and contain the information which will be useful for your familiarization.
Don't concern yourself with "options" on the aircraft. At the PPL level, and optional equipment which may be installed will be a needless distraction to the new pilot (and my sweeping statement is intended to include glass cockpit). If you can only find glass cockpit to learn in (which is where we are pointed), okay, but don't go looking for it, nor pay extra to have it available if you have a choice.
If I were able to influence the flight training industry, every student pilot would train in a Piper J3 Cub with no electrical system at all, until later stages of their training.
Prepare to pay your instructor for the training you require. If your instructor would like you to practice or review on your own, they will direct you (and it will not be to a computer sim). At the initial stages of piloting, simming, and watching Youtube self help instructional videos are detrimental, and will increase your cost to take you to a PPL skill level.
Simulators are excellent training tools, when certified for the purpose, and used in a training environment. The cost of that level simulator will be a little less than the use of the aircraft, though not much less. And, it will not provide much benefit to a student pilot.