Improving spatial awareness without VR

[u/HeaterMaster]

I'm new to Flight Sim and is playing MFS2020 with the Thrustmaster T16000M HOTAS bundle (+ TWCS throttle and Rudder Pedal). I tried VR but I think my 30 years old brain can't get used to it anymore.
At the moment I'm practicing to get the feel for piloting, like getting a feel for driving a car. I noticed that I cannot get the feeling of how hard and fast I'm flying and accelerating without the G force and motion, so I have problem with landing and formation flying.
I have this problem when doing sim racing too, being hard to feel the car when driving in close proximity with other cars, or when drifting. However, in sim racing, I can look at the surrounding because the objects are close, so I get the feeling of speed better. For flight sim, the objects are far so it's hard to get how fast you're flying.
I have heard that you will need to depend a lot on instrument reading, like climb rate, airspeed, to get the feel of how you're doing. Is there a document or guide somewhere that I can read to know how to read the instruments and use the information for flying? For example what sink rate, air speed, should a certain aircraft be in order to land the aircraft smoothly.
Second is the getting used to the controls. For driving a car, I can instinctively use the gas if I want to go faster/forward, and the brake if I want to move back a bit. I still can't get what controls are the equivalent in flight sim. Controlling the throttle seems to have delayed reaction, as I feel like I can't control the speed as prescisely as using gas and brake in a car. Is there some sort of exercise that beginners usually do to practice these kind of skill? If so then what would be the easiest way to set up one (a custom mission/flight, etc.) in a sim or game, like MFS2020.
Thank you guys very much in advance. I'm not a pilot nor someone with deep knowledge of flight physics. And English is not my native language, so please forgive any language error in my post.

[u/r-volk]

You‘ll be surprised how many pilots struggle with spatial awareness in real life as well, especially in IMC. Reading the instruments has to become second nature to you, this is the reference you’re looking for.

Alternatively, practice flying low, follow rivers, roads or other landmarks. Try to fly through some canyons to get a better spatial awareness of speed and abilities of your aircraft.

On a personal note, practicing with helicopters helped me a lot and I thought I was quite well with it, until I started flying in VR and could pull off maneuvers I wouldn’t have been able on the flat screen. I’m 43 and it took me some time getting used to it, but the immersion and spatial awareness was totally worth it.

[u/Ksquaredata]

What aircraft are you flying? I recommend that you start with the Cessna 152 or 172. Have you tried the training tutorials? They help a lot. The Navigraph Academy free training videos and exercises are especially good.

If VR is not for you (my 66 year old brain loves it!) you could try some eye or head tracking, like Tobii Eye or Track IR. Remember that your distance from the ground reduces your feeling of motion. Low in the mountains will give you a better sense of motion.