I can see what several of you are saying with the falcon and arcs. When I started teaching my daughter we used the x and 2 ties, though we said Leia was flying the X-wing. (Same stats as Luke) She liked being a space princess. If those concepts need teaching then absolutely the falcon is lousy at it.
However my friend was already used to firing arcs and movement by template, though less specific thanks to GW. What I needed for him was a quick way to see all the various actions, and an iconic ship to get SW hooks into him.
Success on both fronts, he loved using the Falcon to blast ties and by the end of the night he was maneuvering his own tie swarms to good effect.
He also got a big kick out of saying, "Han shoots first." every time the firing round came up.