I've never, not once, tuned to an NDB in all my training. Hell, they've never even been mentioned. No idea how to use them. From my FS experience, I'm assuming it's just enter frequency, then fly where the needle is pointing, but that's just an assumption.
That technique will get you there eventually, but as Brett says, if you "home" on the beacon you'll fly an arc towards it if there's any wind.
To do it with wind, you must first get a bearing on it, then turn to a heading that is the same as the bearing
plus or minus wind correction angle which will of course be a little different that whatever offset you were using originally. If you think of that bearing angle as a VOR radial, it makes more sense... often when tracking a radial, your aircraft heading is not the same as the radial. What's tricky about NDBs is that instead of that needle and dot to show you if you're on track, you have to do some calculating first. Once you've made your decision, though, you need only keep that needle deflected the same amount as it was when you rolled out on your new course, and if the wind doesn't change, you should be OK. It's challenging. But in VFR flight, as you go crabbing towards the station, you can use visual landmarks or VOR radials, and even DME readings, to confirm you're on track. It just requires more skull sweat- and that's not a bad thing, most of the time.
In my RL (VFR) flying, I've rarely tracked directly to NDBs, although back when I was flying out of KTEB, I often reported inbound at the Paterson NDB or was directed there to hold by the tower. I usually did OK tracking to it.
Mostly, though I've used them as rough waypoints when there are no easily recognizable landmarks: when the needle shows I've passed it, or when it shows a particular bearing, I have a better idea where I am along my route. This is very useful when you'd like to have a VOR intersection but there's only one VOR within range... or when there's no VOR at all within range.
And if you're hopelessly lost but know you're in the neighborhood, or if you have to divert due to wx or whatever, even spiralling to a nearby NDB is better than blundering around.
I'll miss those NDBs... I'll miss LORAN, too- I used to rent a Skyhawk that had LORAN; very accurate sometimes, and potentially more reliable (as a system) than GPS.
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