I'll try to provide the factual info first. RANT can be found at
www.oddsoft.co.uk. Although useless for teaching you to fly an aeroplane in terms of 'stick'n'rudder' skills, it is great for practicing radio navigation at all levels, even for the PPL. Seeing how something works can be instantly more enlightening than reading about it.
Now for my two penneth on flight sims, or in particular their relevance for light aircraft. Having done plenty of flying, plenty of gliding and the occasional bit of simming (all post-PPL), my own personal recommendation would be to exercise caution in using a PC flight sim to learn to fly, especially if you've no prior experience of using the real thing.
If you have got some real hours, a flight sim can - in many ways - be beneficial for keeping sharp and in practice. However you'd be operating from a position of strength, so to speak, knowing from experience how the PC will differ from the real thing.
If you learn on a PC before climbing into a real aircraft, you may be in for some rather significant surprises. Some examples of which include control forces, trimming and judging the flare and roundout when landing. Trimming is perhaps the second-most vital skill involved in VFR flying (after performing a good lookout) and a computer flight sim does not really teach one to trim particularly accurately. Perhaps I'm alone in this view, but I trim by 'feel' and without that feel (and you don't get it in MSFS, for example) you have to compensate in other ways.
There was an interesting TV programme on the other day, about a
x-hundred hour PC flight simmer who tried to have a go at landing a light aircraft. He flew a stable final approach but the instructor had to take it over for the flare. It was mentioned in the Flying Instructors & Examiners forum and they put
their own spin on the topic of computer flight sims.
My personal advice would be to get the first few hours of your PPL training under your belt first, then use the PC to train further once you have had a taste of the real thing. Failing that, at least do some homework on how you should be learning to fly and the pitfalls to avoid if learning to do it on a PC.
Cheers
Charley