well quoted a37575,
I am constantly amazed by the prep that people feel the sim requires. Surely you should be able to be grabbed at random, thrown in the box and feel confident to perform to the levels your atpl requires on a daily basis!
I use the sim check as a check on how my weekly self checking and discipline is doing. It's good to leave a two day check having done no extra prep and to have performed to a good standard. Likewise i've also left with no doubt that i've let a few things go and need to give myself harder feedback on my peformance levels on a daily basis. We should all know when we are on or off our game. By this 'prep' are people saying that they are up to daily normal ops but don't feel capable of handling non-norms? Having been lucky enough to do some FJ flying where non-norms are the norm I'm always worried that people see the sim as test to be scared of and not as a refresher to check that our performance levels remain high.
As to the original question, my only 'gem' is that during my rudder checks when operating as P1 I always use a known datum (with ref to the 747-4 lower eicas rudder posit indicator) and stop my full and free checks at the approx posit required for an efato b4 checking full movement. I was told it was a good way to train the brain for an initial stab at the swing and have found it very usefull. I only get 2/3 handling sectors a month and i have found this a good way of going into every flight with my mind refreshed as to what i'm going to do 'mechanically' if the donk goes bang. likewise when i go into the sim it's not been 6 months since i had to think what i was going to do with my legs at the critical moment.
anyway no doubt that hand flying when appropriate is a no-brainer. only you and your crewmate will know when that is.