msfs
I am not a pilot, but I have a some little experience in the air. I think MSFS is more for fun than training but it depends on what the simmer wants. It has a lot of addons which make MSFS hard and "close to the reality". You should check the PMDG custom airplanes or (if you are that kind of person) the so called "Project Tupolev" (there are lots ot youtube videos - try search "PMDG MSFS" etc. if you havent already). There are also sceneries. The VATSIM community is great. Also there are sites which provide professional air traffic control (for a small payment) and it gets really interesting practicing real and live radio chat with ATC, during virtual flight.
Ofcourse nothing can substitude the real flight, the real experience and the real flight instructor. The flight model of MSFS is far from reality. But everithing else is nice and usefull i guess.
Actually from my experience i could recommend "IL-2 STURMOVIK"(with the latest patch 4.11) for a flight model closest to the real flying (spins, stalls ..., historical aircrafts from the WW2 and a lot, lot of fun.)
Best regards!