It's possible and not amazingly difficult to fly without rudder pedals (I do it all the time). It's difficult to be very accurate and isn't realistic, but it's possible and probably much harder. 

 

For helis, I'd recommend as a beginner Alabeo's R66, which I use in most my screenshots. It has a stability mode which makes it easy to learn, but challenging when you switch it off. It has a great view all round which makes it my favourite.

 

I also have all of Dreamfoil's helis. The Bell helicopters are my favourite, the 407 is currently the best available in terms of modelling and detail for me, the other helis I found are too heavy on FPS, and the 407 is comparable to a Cessna 172 with an autopilot, so it's recommended if you want do basic GA flights and make use of the GPS or radio navigation. For bare bone basic and challenging heli flying, their R22 is brilliant.

It's possible and not amazingly difficult to fly without rudder pedals (I do it all the time). It's difficult to be very accurate and isn't realistic, but it's possible and probably much harder. 

 

For helis, I'd recommend as a beginner Alabeo's R66, which I use in most my screenshots. It has a stability mode which makes it easy to learn, but challenging when you switch it off. It has a great view all round which makes it my favourite.

 

I also have all of Dreamfoil's helis. The Bell helicopters are my favourite, the 407 is currently the best available in terms of modelling and detail for me, the other helis I found are too heavy on FPS, and the 407 is comparable to a Cessna 172 with an autopilot, so it's recommended if you want do basic GA flights and make use of the GPS or radio navigation. For bare bone basic and challenging heli flying, their R22 is brilliant.

 

The Dreamfoil 407 is really good for sure.  I might be a little more tired of it, since I'm a late comer to XP and therefore the R22 is fresh to me, but have been flying the MV (FSX) version of that 407 since release.