You probably already know this, but I found landing in a sim harder than an actual landing cause you lose your depth perception.  I found, however, that by using the virtual cockpit and raising the seat so you could look over the edge of the panel dashboard you got a better reference as to your height to better judge your flare.  It is also easier to fly a pattern cause you can look out and back to also better judge your turns for base and final.  Took me years to figure that one out.
Bud

Raise the seat?  Is that the same as just lowering the panel?  Sounds like a good idea.  I didn't notice much of a drop in FPS whn I switch to virtual cockpit view.

I noticed that when I was in naval flight training three years ago.  I tried to simulate the pattern and crashed repeatedly.  When I did the real thing the next morning, it was easier because of the depth perception.  Therefore, I believe that if you can land the computer, you can do the real thing.  Your average aircraft is not powered by a pentium chip so it reacts slower.