Hey DE7, didn't catch that your from my neck of the woods before. The beautiful and ALWAYS RAINY Pacific NW.
I have tried both and think the Elite is better and most oppinions are for Elite. I have Elite 7.0 at home and it is quite detailed on how much you can tweek on it, but more often than not I use MSFS2002Pro for all my fun sim flying and "training" needs. The thing is MSFS it alot quicker to dial in all your info and the panels and knobs etc are bigger too. Not to mention the graphics are plain in Elite even with Gen-view, but the Elite is not for fun sim flying but for real FAA approved training as you know.
I use the CH Pro usb yoke and pedals and it adds a whole world more of realism to your sim flying. And yes you can use your pedals to crab into the wind, forward slip to lose alt fast etc and also on takeoff with P-factor you use it.
One of the most practical uses I hace for the "toy game" sim is before I take a real world flight anywhere, I ALWAYS do it on the pc first and follow on my sec chart to "see" the terrain and features. I have my pc fairly pumped and all my MSFS settings maxed out and the deatail is stunning. And really after I've made the flight virtual, and then go for real, it takes most of the anxiety out of the flight because I've "been" there before. So...
As for FAA approved the word is Elite but that is a good point on throttles and engines, I don't remember that offhand but...
Do you fly out of the NW? I'm based out HIO( Hillsboro Intl.) in Ore and trained and got my ticket out of VUO Vanc. Wa. You going to Arlington this year?
Now that I think about, with Elite, I think you can fly twins, it's just a matter of s/w, but I may be wrong, so don't quote me on it.