Here's what Vim's documentation has to say about it:
Virtual editing means that the cursor can be positioned where there is no actual character. This can be halfway into a tab or beyond the end of the line. Useful for selecting a rectangle in Visual mode and editing a table.
I'd preferably like to see this implemented as a minor mode or a built in setting.
C-f
. But when you yank a rectangle after doing this, the rectangle appears at the mark instead of the point. If it appeared at the point, that would solve this issue.