RAT 5, I totally agree with your posting.
I know the few moments in the sim is insufficient. But often it is the only chance you get.
Apart from the points you make in your own posting, let me explain why we hardly get any opportunity to practice. I fly long haul and in a good month I get to make two landings. Mostly this is on busy airports where you simply get no chance to make a visual approach. Try asking for a visual with Heathrow Director.
This is the paradox I'm talking about. I used to fly 737 and we got a fair amount of visual approaches on the quiet airports. We also did a lot more stretches and landings obviously.
We're all human and as such we need training to maintain skills we cannot practice.