MrAverage, thanks. Those strike me as wise words.
hegemon88, thanks for the useful insight and answering the question.
FZRA, thanks, I'll bear all of that in mind.
I will have only been flight simming for about two or three months by the time I have my first lesson this year. If the net benefit of me practicing on the flight sim is negative, at least I won't have been doing it too long. As I said before, I'm hoping the net benefit will be positive.