C++ reimplements a lot of the things we do in C with function pointers, while hiding what's actually happening behind topheavy syntax that implies a 1990s object oriented paradigm that's dead now.
If that were actually true C++ would be a lot easier to accept as a 'C successor'. Instead you have the implicit this-pointer, complicated rules for which constructor or operator overload is actually called, a hidden vtable pointer (not to mention multiple inheritance), then you have public/private/protected, override vs final, const methods (which wouldn't be needed as a separate syntax feature if the this arg wouldn't be implicit) etc etc etc... that a lot of OOP-baggage which a lot of C++ coders probably don't even notice anymore.
A plain C struct with function pointers does indeed make a lot more sense than all the OOP-ism that C++ hides from you ;)
Have you bothered to look how GCC and clang are implemented?