When I said "do what the instructor says", I meant "they have far more practical experience than you have theory knowledge, so if what they say differs from what you think, do it their way, and you'll be a much better pilot."
LOL, I don't think I could fly anything right now...my current knowledge is limited to navigation. So I could probably be a pretty-bad-but-better-than-nothing PNF, but a horrid PF.
And unlike you, I have no flight sim experience, so at least I don't have any semblance of experience that could cause me to make stupid mistakes. So I have an open mind with regards to actually learning how to fly the plane. Likely I'll probably insist on RNAV routes instead of visual navigation, because if we tune into the arriving airport's VOR from the departing airport, we can fly a straight line from KLGB SID to KLAX STAR, and not have the potential of getting lost because we can't see, e.g. the 405 Fwy or the Raytheon building.
Hopefully I can get the CFI to appease me by at least letting me tune in, and using the CDI as a check to my visual navigation, just to make sure that I don't go wildly off course onto a aerial sight-seeing adventure.