Complete beginner, looking for advice on what sim to get

Hello all, am hoping to get some advice if possible please and apologies in advance if this post turns out to be a bit long-winded.

 

I have not touched a flight sim since trying one on a Commodore 64 in the 80's. I have been dabbling with various transport sims over the years such as MSTS and more recently the annual Train Sim series, Euro Truck Simulator 2 and Fernbus but have always found flight sims to be a little intimidating. Thankfully these days i have a little more free time so thought I would use it learning a flight sim and scratching an itch i have had for a long time.

 

The issue I have is what one should i choose (I hope this does not turn into a 'this' vs 'that' discussion as i think they will all have a place depending on what you are looking for, I am just looking for advice on what one would possible be best suited for me.

My pc specs are i5 4460 processor, 16gb ram and AMD rx480 8gb graphics card. I also have a Thrustmaster Hotas X controller from where i play Elite Dangerous.

 

My goal with regards to flight sims is to eventually be able to fly commercial planes around Europe and trans-atlantic, things like Boeing 757, Airbus A330's etc., try my hand at flying some cargo planes such as the Boeing C-17 Globemaster and the C-130 Hercules as well as possibly doing some short flights (which i imagine the tutorials will cover). The other thing I would like to be able to do as well is, as i live near an air force base i see a number of planes doing 'circuits and bumps'. It would be cool to be able to download the air base (RAF Brize Norton) and be able to mimic what they do on their training, using A400, C-130 and C-17 aircraft which they mostly use for their training.

Long term would be to possibly look at playing with other like minded individuals, I think they are called Virtual Airlines.

 

Ideally what I am looking for is one that could possibly be more a 'casual sim' rather than a 'hardcore sim', has decent tutorials to learn the basics, compatible with my HOTAS controller, reasonable autopilot options if I am feeling lazy or struggling with the landing approaches or changing course to be able to 'watch and learn' and installing/managing addons as painless as possible. The other things that i could take or leave (but would be nice if they were there), half decent graphics to be able to enjoy the scenery when taking off or coming in to land and seeing other ai aircraft at the different airports (not so much taxi-ing down runways or coming in to land, just parked up at different terminals).

 

Many thank's to all who read and maybe take the time to respond, i hope it makes sense.

FSX-SE....it was just on sale for under $9 U.S. This Sim will have the best selection of Aircraft that you are looking for and also plenty of Virtual Airlines available. Good in-sim flight training also available.