OK, thinking seriously about getting my Sport Pilot licence. Any recommendations on simulators and hardware (joysticks etc.) for a Microsoft machine. Where to buy?
Thanks, Peter

Don't bother all you will end up doing is getting bad habits that will take for ever to break once you get into the airplane. Sport Pilot is Visual flying (VFR) you look outside of the airplane. All the simulators will do is get you fixated on the gauges and well you will make it harder for yourself than it needs to be.

For the Sport license, I think a sim would be of little value. That said I got my instrument rating a couple years ago, and halfway through the training I purchased Microsoft Flight Sim X as well as a Logitech Extreme Pro joystick and found it extremely helpful for practicing IFR approaches and holding patterns. So, for IFR stuff they are worth it, but for VFR, I don't think so. Of course there is all sorts of fun things you can do that have nothing to do with your flight training. You can rescue elephants in Africa, fly B-777's, or just about anything.