I have found Xplane 11 to be a "fun computer game" when used for Private & VFR stuff, but have found that it has paid for itself and is an extremely useful tool when used for instrument stuff- things like practice-shooting more complicated or unfamiliar approaches before you spend $ and get in the real plane, cranking up the turbulence and minimum weather conditions for maintaining instrument scan proficiency in difficult conditions, transitioning from shooting approaches in steam to G1000 et al... think of it as an "instrument rating version of the E6B"... make sure to have a good graphics card lots of RAM and get the yoke, pedals & throttle quadrant. Also, Foreflight on the iPad syncs seamlessly with Xplane making it feel more like a real cockpit...