Why does JViewHTML->render() use getPath?

[garyamort]

I'm curious why a call to getPath is even used in render?

$restorePath = set_include_path(implode(';',$this->getPaths()));

...

set_include_path($restorePath);

Replacing to $path = $this->getPath($this->getLayout()); 

Would replace the PHP functionality being called in getPath with the equivalent C functionality used by include.

I understand that using include with the entire include path can be slower then including a file directly, but if you override the path so it's only the one your interested in, using the built in functionality instead of calling a bunch of PHP file_exists functions should be faster.  Am I wrong and even with a limited include path it's still faster to use file_exists?