Over the decades of novels and game fluff by 30 different authors, sometimes the head cockpit is super cramped, sometimes it has a jump seat and sometimes it's almost comfortable for a passenger. There are two-person cockpit as well, for command mechs like the Battlemaster.

And on the tabletop, rolling the random hit location for the HD can mean the game suddenly swings in your favor. We players have probably all experienced a turn one PPC to the face!