I was playing with the direct to in simulate mode, and when flying near WIL in Switzerland, I was surprised that Meiringen was showing in the list of direct to. Then I realized that I'd discard that because there's quite a big mountain range I'd have to climb over. That's nice in an area where I know my way around, but if I'd be further away from home, I'd still not want to climb 6000 ft because of an ill-chosen direct-to.

It might be handy to see some sort of vertical path that I'd be encountering. When I accepted Meiringen, the virtual radar at the bottom didn't update until I dragged the airplane on the right route, so even then you'd have to commit to the route to see that it might not work out.

(Also, the directional arrows being relative to the airplane when my map is always north up was a bit confusing, which made me glad to figure that out in the simulate mode!)

I have gliding range enabled, but in the Direct To popup that's not visible. If I need the glide distance, I'm probably not looking much at the Direct To, but maybe that would be useful when flying higher. 

I'm usally flying somewhat near-terrain VFR, so I imagine I'd use the glide range to help me find where to land if my engine is no longer functioning (or when crossing a large lake, that it'd be much better to climb). The "Direct To" would be for unhappy engine/passenger/weather, so in addition to the horizontal directions we now get, I think some vertical indications might help in deciding which field to choose, without trying them one by one and pointing the nose in that direction. 

My long trips are so rare, that I was usually able to examine the map long enough that I already had some ideas on where to divert to at each point in case of some obscured mountain passes.