I don't think it's such a good idea.To fly an airliner simulator takes a lot of instrument flying which is advanced.Circuit bashing and learning the basics is good experience,because you are operating in a real traffic environment.Also to go solo is very rewarding.
When we did our BA sim,we could appreciate it more and were doing some advanced flying.Cat 3B approaches but we were the handling pilots.However unless we had done Instrument flying in a Cessna,it would have been more of a game than something of value.The basics to flying are the same for a Cessna or 747;but you learn the basics in a Cessna first.