meant the learning curve wasn’t quite as steep for me early on
Yes and no.
Friends who had a PPL already, whilst knowing a lot of skills, found they had to re-learn a lot of basic skills the "right" way, which they found frustrating and difficult to break habits sometimes. The three guys on my course with a PPL said it didn't help them.
If you want to do some flying beforehand, do it but in reality it is a luxury and not needed.