Does just taking a pic of the QR code not work just as well?

You can double tap the lock button to open your wallet with all your passes. Also it automatically raises the brightness for QR passes to make it easier for readers.

You could do the same thing with shortcuts I guess but using the first class feature is nice.

It does, but then it's buried in your photos instead of on the home screen.

Most tickets don’t just come with a QR, it has other information like seating/metadata not in the QR that can only be captured in a photo.

Funny, when I take a picture of a ticket I can still see all those things.

Interesting. Do you have examples of such data or any pointers. I always take screenshots of the wallet pass and they seem to work fine.

Apple wallet proactively shows your event pass when it's time. Much better than trying to find the photo from your camera roll