hmmm Flight sims!
Yes I guess I flew a sim first! I seem to remember it was back in my school days and called "Night Flight" for the Sinclair Spectrum. For those that don't remember, computing power wasn't up to making a daylight scene, so we had to make do with little dots at night
So, as others said, on my first flight (in the back of a chippy on an AEF) I was told off for flying on instruments - especially as the horizon was not aligned properly on the a/c.
Since then, wonders have happened in the PC world and like others I think they're great for IMC practice and now, with the modern scenery, even VFR nav - which blew me away the first time I saw it.