With the release of MS Flight Sim 2020, I've been thinking of maybe getting into it and am curious what kinds of set-ups (flight control, not PC) people are using.

Also, as someone who is considering getting a PPL, I'm curious if a flight sim can be a useful training tool...thoughts?

I consider myself a novice but I am using the Thrustmaster Flight Pack. The controls seem to work well flying. I've got the Cesna down reasonably good. Flew a jet just for kicks. All that did was speed the time until I crashed. Shit happens a lot faster when trying to land

Yes. I am working on my ASEL aka PPL as well. I haven’t flown much lately, due to the Covid.
X-Plane 11 is somewhat of a substitute, in that I can fly and work on getting the numbers right (for example- what airspeed and flap positions, etc for downwind, base, and final).
However, nothing is a complete substitute for the real thing.
X-Plane is one step up from chair-flying.

It is in my closet, I have not used it in years.

Yoke

https://www.amazon.com/CH-Prod...+%2Caps%2C178&sr=8-1

Pedals

https://www.amazon.com/CH-Prod...046011_t2_B00006B84Z

It worked ok, no complaints, I just liked the real thing much better.

It was and still is the #1 yoke on amazon.

I haven’t flight simmed in ages, but for a realistic experience you at least need a control yoke vs joystick. To further things a rudder pedal set and throttle quadrant will complete the setup. Here’s a set at sports pilot shop:https://www.sportys.com/pilots...AvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

I spent many hours playing MSFS when I was a kid, there’s no doubt it can help considerably with real world training especially with the realism nowadays.