Want to get into helicopters

I went to my local hobby store this past weekend and asked him about getting started into helis. He let me try the real flight simulator and actually did pretty good( I've been flying planes for about 10 years). I noticed that I could fly the helicopter around like an airplane almost effortlessly, just getting it stopped and back to hover was a problem. Is this the way the real ones fly or is the sim misleading. He told me that flying forward was like airplanes. He also said he would set up and teach me if I bought everything from him. Should I go for it?

[Andrew]

I think you're learning backwards. Learn the hovering first and then move on to forward flight. The sim is fairly accurate as far as realism goes. Read through the main helifever tutorials as they provide a good baseline of steps to go through in the learning process.

I WOULD ALSO RECCOMEND USING THIS SIGHT FOR ALL THE BASICS,IT HELPED ME LEARN HOW TO HOVER AND HOW TO SET UP THE RADIO AND THE HELICOPTER
I HAVE ONLY HAD THE SIMULATOR FOR A FEW WEEKS AND IT IS REALISITIC

Your on the right track. Forward flight is the same with the exception that you can stop if you want to. Get used to hovering first. The ability to stop is useless if you can't hold it!

The sim will be more touchy than the real thing I have found. This isn't a bad thing though because it will teach you to not over correct the helicopter.

There is a free simulator that you can use with your existing transmitter (doesn't have to be a heli transmitter at this point) called FMS, you can get it here:
http://n.ethz.ch/student/mmoeller/fms/index_e.html

It's what I am currently using to learn how to hover nose in with the controls reversed and I will use it for learning inverted flying as well.

It's free and works really well. It isn't perfect with regards to the physics of the helicopter, but for hovering it will get you used to the balancing act.

Well I went and spent all my kids college fund. Just kidding. I got a Hirobo Shuttle Plus, Os 32,Futaba 6ch, and gyro. I also got the real flight g2. It's all put together and waiting til next weekend to take back to the hobby store for final set-up and engine break -in.