No idea about scenery, but I'm sure someone with p3d can help with it.
Regarding flight planning,
http://skyvector.com is all you need. It has the VFR sectional and Terminal Area Charts that you'll need for VFR flight in the area. Use caution, the area around LAX is ridiculously complex with Bravo, Charlie and Delta airspace just about everywhere you look. I'd highly recommend starting with flights near CMA, SBA, SBP and BFL. Those are lovely places to fly and much more relaxing for VFR, especially if you're unfamiliar with the area. Quite honestly, it's easier to fly IFR in the heart of Socal than it is to fly VFR.
I'd also recommend checking out our first few workshops on VFR flight here:
http://pilotedge.net/workshops. That will help you deal with reading the sectionals, understanding the massive amounts of special use airspace in Socal (restricted areas, MOA's, MTR's, alert areas and warning areas) and some basic VFR cross country planning techniques.
Let us know how things go if you do elect to give it a try.