Maybe the more fully realistic simulators may help, but I found in my initial lessons that years of flying PC simulators meant I spent too much time looking at instruments for reference (as needed to get any reference in a PC simulator) and not visual references for attitude etc. Even when I went back to FSX to practice my real lessons as the cash ran out, then I could not seem to get a good "visual" reference, everything had to keep going back to the instruments to get any feel.