Why not just run it in an emulator or VM? Is there tangible benefit to reimplementing everything, or is it just an intellectual exercise?

"high-resolution rendering and substantially more advanced lighting" and several other items are documented as improvements in the link.

A quick glance through the README would demonstrate the litany of improvements you can expect from a proper decomp/port, compared to emulation.

Yes, a lot of these are much improved by reverse-engineering them and adding a few tweaks to modernize them. Many of them have added support for different display aspects, since most retro games are tied to 4:3. I downloaded the new RE of Sega Rally the other day and it was nice to have full proper widescreen.

Here are some features, common in other simulator games, that could now be added to these games:

• Custom control panels, with various switches and levers, and lights and displays.

• Multiple displays.

• Virtual reality.

• Mixed reality that shows your hands and your custom control panel, combined with the VR display outside your craft.

• Speech recognition for giving commands to your allies.

• Cockpit motion control and seat rumble.

I personally like to play with the graphs of the Totally Games version of Tie Fighter but with the iMuse music of the original. it's the best experience.