As a relatively low hrs PPL having now taken two large breaks from flying - I was actually surprised how easy it was to fly the plane still, not easy as in complacency, just that it wasn't actually hard work (as I remembered it) to fly circuits but really enjoyable. If anything I was more precise than I was before (letting the plane do the work more) and better at judging landings. I can't explain that but that is how it seems. Almost like the neurons in my thick head had continued to sort out flying mode even when I wasn't doing any.
It's definitely the procedural stuff that I'm more worried about.
Sims helped me a lot for SEP renewal and club currency. I don't 'play' sims as such, what I get from computer sims is like flying, it directly relates to what I put in and how it is approached. There are a couple of good books on how pilots can use say FSX, it's not always a case of 'playing' it, it can be just going through checklists, thinking out radio calls etc to keep some level of currency on procedure, right through to bashing circuits or doing PFLs and instrument flight. In all it's keeping familiarity, I do things like forgetting to call final on the sim. I bet I would have gone on to do it in the air if I hadn't picked up on it first on the sim. Doing that several times during a club checkout would guarantee needing to book another hour at my club.