Any R/C Heli Pilots On Here?

For the last year, my son has used his allowance money to buy several mall r/c helis that were POS and they're not cheap! I was at the hobby shop last week and picked up a Blade mcx300 for him and it turned out to be a blast. We both had it mastered within a couple days and so I went back out and purchased a Blade msr. That is definitely a much more challenging heli but my son and I have gotten quite good with it. I'm now thinking that it might be fun to try out a larger copter (Blade 400 or TRex 450). I have Real Flight G4 sim and it has helis on it but I've really struggled even hovering. So, long story short, how realistic is the sim compared to actual flying? My gut feeling is that if I can handle the msr I should be able to handle a larger, more stable copter (although admittedly, the msr is fixed pitch) and my problems with the sim is the lack of spatial perception. I definitely don't want to go out and dump $400-500.00 on a heli if we're not up to the task. Any comments?