I can understand that point of view and used to think the same. I even tried a little virtual pinball unit at some discount warehouse club and it sucked. Then I actually tried a really good virtual pinball cabinet running recent, high-quality open source tables at 120fps 4K HDR with haptic feedback transducers providing positional tactile feedback to the point where I could close my eyes and feel the virtual ball rolling across the table from side to side. It also had a 6-axis accelerometer allowing me to 'nudge' the table to influence the trajectory of the ball just like I do on one of the real pinball tables I own.
I was impressed enough to set up a virtual pinball table of my own and now that I have extensive experience with both - I like playing them both. Playing a virtual pinball vs a physical pinball is simply a different kind of experience. Neither is a replacement for the other. When played on a high-end, perfectly-tuned table, virtual pinball is like a cross between a pinball game and a video game. It shares similarities with both but is its own distinct thing that's different and (IHMO) quite enjoyable.
Notably, that setup seems to cost the same as an actual commercial pinball table, ~$7,000. Granted you can play many different pinball games on one table, but it's not exactly comparable to an affordable software option.
I was impressed enough to set up a virtual pinball table of my own and now that I have extensive experience with both - I like playing them both. Playing a virtual pinball vs a physical pinball is simply a different kind of experience. Neither is a replacement for the other. When played on a high-end, perfectly-tuned table, virtual pinball is like a cross between a pinball game and a video game. It shares similarities with both but is its own distinct thing that's different and (IHMO) quite enjoyable.