yeah, i concur fully, i have to admit that i dont use pro gear, i mean, i wish i could, honestly, but this is how it is
the pmdg 737 is indeed, no1 on my list as to how well it captures that seat of the pants feeling im talking about. The first time in my life that i pulled a yoke and the wheels were off the runway i will never forget it, it felt like, slickery, oily… like riding over cotton balls…. while in the sim a lot of planes feel like riding over saw tooth and they are made of paper and fly on rails. There’s a certain, hard to point, randomness in movement to the whole thing that’s missing or is insufficient. Or maybe they are trying to simulate it when it can’t be simulated, and you should hard code it into the thing.
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Now that is something the consumer-grade flight sim market has also recently been evolving in. We’re talking force feedback gear here which used to be something only heard of on professional grade simulators. “Feeling the wind” on your yoke if you’re flying the real thing is something a simmer has never encountered before. While it can be overwhelming if one was to theoretically find himself in this hypothetical situation of suddenly being in the position where you have to fly a real aircraft mid-flight and land it, if they remain calm and apply the best to their knowledge, chances are significant disaster will be prevented. Also another point to add, how silly it sounds for many sounds logical to the ones who know it: Bigger airplanes are easier to fly. They are inherently more stable than smaller aircraft, and commercial jet planes are much comfier for the pilots aswell, the stick won’t be as intimidating, rather smooth.
There are multiple affordable options for FFB gear, quite easy to find. If you ever find yourself able to spare some money for a better PC and gear: Do it. It’s not as expensive as many think. (However RAM prices are kind of an issue atm) But nonetheless it’s absolutely worth it. I find myself flying 10 hours a day sometimes 
I just search up on the website of the livery i’m flying what real lines they fly and just do the exact same flight. I once flown in a real 737 moving simulator and immediately felt at home. I might still become a real 737 pilot through modular training, really sparks my interest.
All this to say, consumer-grade simulation has nowadays become a serious option for autodidacts who wish to step in to pilot license training with confidence. The market is now certainly evolving, with expo’s and event like the FlightSimWeekend in Lelystad only being a couple of weeks from now where many companies and enthousiasts gather to share ideas and try out new software and hardware for Flight Sim. WinCTRL for example have excellent products for both Boeing and Airbus which are very, very affordable. BeyondATC even has realistic ATC with AI voices from the local area you’re flying, and sometimes they aren’t even very understandable due to accents, which is a common thing in some parts of the world. This all adds to your knowledge, expanding yourself.