Note that in reality this is probably rather less boring than Desert Bus makes it look because the game deliberately over-simplifies the route. For a start Phoenix is in between Tucson and Las Vegas, but if you head that way you're also going over the Hoover Dam which is a bit more interesting than Desert Bus.

Now, you could head south of Phoenix, and mostly avoid anything interesting, but you still have a few intersections and so on, this is not one endless road into the desert.

Which isn't to say it'd be a compelling experience, even the Hoover Dam route would be extremely boring for most of the duration.