[jeebusroxors]

I think it would make things a bit easier. You won't be greasing landings but familiarity with controls and instruments would be a plus.

One of the things I remember when first starting was the sheer amount of "stuff" going on in a plane that I had to worry about. For example taking off you've got maintaining the center line/winds (aileron position) checking engine instruments, radio calls, speed, and traffic. Having seen some of these components virtually may alleviate some of that head spinning that goes on. You'd know what flaps are, and when they are usually used, you'd know what a flare is (and that you didn't need 37 pieces of it).

You would also have exposure to various IFR procedures commonly used in the real world, most useful being ILS, which can line up your aircraft with the runway and put you on the correct glide slope, and even land the plane.

I would also suspect you would have a bit of a confidence boost (that is if you're optimistic), something like "I've put a 737-700 on the blocks hundreds of times in MSFS/x plane - how hard can it be?"

Of course this is all wild speculation, and the odds of an "Airplane" scenario are pretty small.