Such or similar fun used to be a standard first endorsement sim exercise to give the trainee a feel for the machine.
This was standard fare when I went through as a student and much later when I instructed in the Navy advanced jet program. We called the exercises Basic Instrument exercises because they formed the foundation for the rest of instrument flying. Mostly we used the S patterns, primarily S-2 and S-3 patterns involving standard rate turns combined with standard climb/descent rates at constant airspeed.
If the training aircraft had an autopilot, they were not maintained/not used and it was strictly a manual exercise.
Are modern day pilots still being taught to hand fly such exercises at any stage in their training?