Not having a GPS I have at times tried printing out MapQuest or etc driving directions. The result has at times been, eh, frustrating.
I drove to Connecticut to pick up a used canoe. The MapQuest directions were two full pages; two Inter-States followed by a couple dozen blue highways with a couple dozen turns, through small towns, weird “bear left” 6-way intersections and confusing “Go 0.1 mile, turn right, go 0.2 miles turn left”.
When I finally got unlost, found the seller’s home and picked up the canoe I asked if there was some easy way to get back to the Inter-State.
“Sure, just go up the road there about a mile and you’ll come to the on ramp”. I guess the way MapQuest sent me, with 24 turns, was “shorter”.
Same thing locally. Again, I was going to pick up a boat an hour away. MapQuest sent me on a route that included a dirt road a few miles from my home I had surprisingly never before been on. Six turns and 20 minutes later I was on a familiar piece of blacktop that I knew well, which is two highway exits north and 20 minutes from my home. I guess that was the scenic route.
I did eventually learn to scope out a MapQuest recommended route on an actual paper map before even thinking about following those directions. I never did find a “fewest turns” option to select.
The same thing happened to a friend who was visiting. I had e-mailed him directions to my home, which involves but two roads off the highway, and 3 turns if you count coming down my dirt drive. He opted to follow his GPS, which sent him along a very scenic backroute, including a country road that is not actually two car widths wide in parts.