I'm driving a Subaru Solterra right now, and it has the same kind of knob. I find it awkward as well. But I suspect that safety is the reason for using a rotary knob. I think a simple forward/reverse lever is too easy to accidentally hit. It's far harder to accidentally twist the knob while driving.

Of course, a forward/reverse lever could be done with a button to push to unlock it, just like automatic transmissions had for decades. That would be ideal for me.