Simply because such a gage imitates the "usable space" of the feature in question. For instance, if a hole is given a position tolerance with the MMC modifier, that recognizes that a bigger-sized hole will be able to walk around more. However, the "winking" effect of that hole creates the exact same "usable space" as a smaller hole that can't walk around as much.
Thus, the virtual condition is the one thing that is constant, and that's what the gage can instantly verify.
John-Paul Belanger
Certified Sr. GD&T Professional
Geometric Learning Systems