Equipment requirements for UK airspace, applicable to any aircraft registration, are in schedules 4 and 5 of the ANO
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2005/20051970.htm#sch4
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2005/20051970.htm#sch5
In class G you are only ok if you don`t need to make an ILS approach . If you do, then you have to be FM immune.
I'd like to see the reference for that. If it's not in the ANO then I don't see how it works.
I saved four figures in training costs by spending many hours on FS2002, as it then was (now FS2004). One doesn't even need the yoke; a joystick is good enough because it is the procedures and situational awareness one is learning.
The IMC Rating does need a general improvement in the calibre of instructors that teach it. But one could say the same of the PPL
