How Important is Perfect Pass?

I'm really struggling with this ....

We came from an I/O world where we didn't have Perfect Pass and I can't say we had too much trouble controling the speed. Mind you, none of us are really good boarders so being off by a mile an hour was no big deal. Our previous boat seemed to hold its speed quite well. Now that we've ordered a Malibu VLX, I wonder if we should opt for Perfect Pass as most, if not all, people on this site love it (some even say they wouldn't buy a boat without it). Is it more difficult to control speed with a tournament boat, or is PP's popularity due to riders getting more picky about speed as they improve?

Thanks!