It's all very well swotting up at the weekend using your simulator manuals and having a play but it doesn't give you marketable total time. The contacts you may meet would be the + point.
An ideal world would be get the training done, then go to sim-land. There will still be opportunities there in 18 months time (if not more opportunities). That way when you're fixing the sim for a time-pressured Training Captain s/he will remember you "Oh by the way I've got a Frozen ATPL and MEIR" you say. Box ticked.
sB