Peter
A GPS is not going to give you " a bearing of y° from z,"
If you put it in OBS mode you should get a bearing of Y from Z
I think we are all guilty with GPS of just loading the points at the start of the flight and then blindly jumping from one point to the other without really following where we are!
When we had VORS you worked harder often out of range and getting bearings to position place from VOR/DME and even NDBs off track so there maybe some truth in the fact that pilots were more aware of their surroundings in the past as well as a lot more chart plotting and following!
Pace