The modern glider is a pretty awesome aerodynamic device and optimised for gliding.
A modern powered aircraft (or flying machine) is a compromise between aerodynamic efficiency and getting a particular job done with cost also in the mix.
So if you are interested in experiencing the pure and simple pleasure of flight then a modern glider – well sailplane really – cannot be beaten in my view.
In a similar way should you feel you have the best hands the world has yet seen for controlling a powered aircraft then go and try to hover an R22. That experience is as purely about control as the glider is about flying.