Its like saying, "I don;t understand how shooting 3 pointers for an hour every day could help my shooting? I mean, I am never this wide open in a real game!"
Does this explain it a little better?
Yeah it does... but the point you're missing is, practicing 3-pointers with nobody guarding you (non-game conditions) isn't the same as doing it with the real game on the line. Yeah, it *helps* to get the reps for shooting techniques but 'the real situation' is always something else.
Dueling is so artificial that even the initial ANGLES (HO, passing close on the cold merge) are staged and unrealistic. Since your real life isn't on the line in a flight sim, well, you learn from fighting (and sometimes dying) in various situations during missions.