No, NFC is a hardware feature, just like Bluetooth. It stands for Near Field Communication. It allows you to perform operations with special tags in very close proximity. About a couple inches. Such as paying for something by putting your phone close to a pad that can read NFC info. I have no experience with NFC Sims, but you do not need one to use NFC on your phone. Hope that helps you.
I'd like to use the Wallet app along with NFC, so I'm thinking a secure/NFC SIM would be preferred. Although I don't know exactly what the difference is between a secure/NFC SIM and a regular one is.