Hlaf-way house
When I was doing my rating initially 15 or so years ago I did some time up at Wycombe in their Frasca simulator. I think it was £20 an hour, with an instructor. Advantages are that a) you get some professional help and b) you're sitting in front of a real panel with instruments that jiggle around in a realistic manner. dunno if they still offer that sort of thing but I found it really useful for sorting out NDB holds etc. I certainly must have got quite a bit out of it 'cos I felt really kn*ckered after an hour at it!
I'd still prefer that over a PC-based simulator.
The real advantage of a sim over the real thing is that you can just concentrate on getting procedures right without feeling sick etc. Thus you can get the maximum benefit out of the flying time you need to do.
I'd say you definitely need to do the unusual attitudes bit in the a/c so that you can get all the sensory impressions embedded in your muscle memory.
Cheers,
The Odd One