Hi Chris
VR works quite nicely in MSFS. I'm still dithering about whether to upgrade my VR to a Quest 2 or buy a decent screen to make the most of the eye candy.
I've got the all singing, all dancing, deluxe everything-you-can-eat version from the MS store. However, if I had the knowledge then that I have now I would buy the bog standard cheapo version from Steam....and I hate Steam too.
The store version's installation and update process can only be described as Machiavellian. Basically Microsoft wants to clasp us to it's ample bosom and never let go. I'm sure they'll sort it out one day but for the moment I would honestly recommend Steam for the simplification it lends to the whole process.
The deluxe versions of the game give you extra planes you won't miss and extra airports you won't notice. Better to save your cash for planes you actually want. There are quite a few now on the market ranging from terrible to wonderful. Be aware that the stock planes that come with the sim are beautiful but some of the add-on stuff available often falls short of these standards. Due diligence is required before purchase and - with a few exceptions - avoid buying anything from within the ingame 'store'!
As for add-on scenery or airports; don't be in a hurry to buy any. There is a truly vast amount of free stuff available from here
https://flightsim.to/
Again, quality varies but at least it's easy to download and install and equally easy to get rid of if you don't like it. A lot of it is really good. For instance the freeware version of Gatwick airport available to download from Flightsim to is a labour of love by someone and universally acknowledged to be superior to the two payware versions available. Also, the sim is being regularly updated and these updates have a habit of breaking the functionality of add-ons on a regular basis and yes, this is becoming trying for add-on developers! Also, the regular world updates made to the sim mean things bought and paid for months ago can become redundant.
As an example;
There are three payware elements here. The city centre, the airport and the aircraft. I bought them all around eight months ago. Two weeks ago Microsoft released World Update 8: Australia which has rendered my city centre and airport add-on superfluous. The airplane is a Piper Seminole by Carenado. Carenado make beautiful, value for money aircraft which set the visual standard for other add on developers. Not surprising really as they're also responsible for many of the stock aircraft which come with the sim.
If you've used any previous versions of Flight Simulator or XPlane with 28fps being the norm, performance of MSFS2020 is going to be a rather delightful surprise. It runs beautifully on my eleven year old cpu. Paris at daybreak;
Visiting the BT tower;
Flight modelling as mentioned by FruitBat? Well...it's not quite up to DCS or GBS yet but like them it is based on blade element theory and being only eighteen months old it can only improve. Apart from a Spitfire I've avoided any other WW2 birds as I know I'll only be disappointed by the FM. As you correctly observed; if you're flying GA or an airliner then as long as they hit the numbers (they do) then fidelity of flight model is really not that important. As a matter of interest, this is the closest you can get to flying a WW2 era four-engined bomber in a modern flight sim; here we are departing Oslo for Heathrow
There are around four hundred and fifty various switches, levers, dials, circuit breakers, etc. and they are all animated and work correctly!
I spend a lot of my time generally flying around Devon, Dorset, Somerset and Cornwall. It's where I live, it's an area I'm very familiar with - especially from the air. It's this kind of flying where MSFS really shines for me.
Getting a bit lost in low cloud on the approach to St. Mawgan a couple of weeks ago. Live weather!
Good luck and hope this helps.