I had over 60 hours gilding, dual and solo, before I started my PPL. It definitly made it a lot easier, and you end up far more confident in the air. Gliding was really good fun, but can also be very frustrating, wasting entire days for 10 minutes in the air. I'd recommend it absolutly for students, as they get much reduced rates. After I started work and had to pay the full rates, the appeal of it reduced. A PPL pilot taking up gliding will find it heavily regulated by club officials, compared to the freedom of the PPL. I can fly a Warrior alone into Tampa International, but needed individual permision for each glider flight, and could not take passengers. This was despite having more hours in gliders at the time.