If you want a bit of a lark, spend some time checking out /r/roadtrip. Seems like at least a few times a week someone will show a map of their planned route: 8,000 miles across 10 states, 7 national parks, and 14 cities. "Hey guys! I'll be driving this route during a long weekend. Any other places I should stop??"
So is this mainly for a virtual highscore? Gamification of real life, tick all the boxes on your mission list, to feel accomplishment?
I doubt one can see the real gems this way. I travelled a lot, but the highlights were never the famous tourist spots and I would not have felt them as highlight by just stopping by and making a picture. But each to his own I guess.
People want to make the most of their limited vacation time and don't understand how time consuming and draining traveling between places is.
I once met a Japanese guy who was "doing" Scandinavia in a single weekend, which basically meant flying into Copenhagen, taking a train to Oslo, another to Stockholm and flying out. I don't think he ever saw a fjord or an island.
Consider the number of people whose dating profiles say that they've been to X countries by the age of 20-something.
Yep, easy way for that to be true is to just drive through them.
For me that was a pretty normal trip, 10th one (2nd one in this year) planned like this.
About 6 hours a day of driving, total visited about 45 out of 52 planned points. For example I don't understand people who go to a beach and spend half a day there, I go, swim for 30 minutes, and I'm out. Same for any other attraction. How long should I spend on a beautiful viewpoint in Greek mountains? For me it's a stop, take photo, admire for 3 minutes, and be on my way. I avoid museums, except transport/communication/computer museums, as they are pretty boring.
I will do exceptions for stuff like Louvre, but sometimes I will just say no to even biggest attractions, like I did earlier this year looking at Stonehenge, +30 minutes of walking and I think +1 hour of driving from my route just to see bunch of rocks - yeah, not for me.
I will go back though, if I found the country particularly nice/pleasing, like I've been to Sweden/Norway/Finland on 2-week road trips two times in summer and two times in winter, and planning another winter one - there is just something about sleeping in car in -15°C (5F) that's just amazing.
> For example I don't understand people who go to a beach and spend half a day there
I think beach days may be similar to your "something about sleeping in a car in -15°C (5F) that's just amazing". Some people really enjoy the sound of the ocean, the warm air, and the occasional dip. There's also just the social aspect of being outside with your family or friends and feeling that heat.
That's barely a day in each country. Why the speedrun?