It really is weird how the timer affects the experienced players more.
Well, one thing to consider: in a league game replay I watched recently, it wasn't until turn 9 that a team finished a turn having acted with all of their players. If you turnover less frequently, you need more time.
And yeah, if you've ever tried a 40s game you understand just how much time the interface takes up, which can be maddening. The clock pauses while it runs animations and such, but stuff like choosing where to push, whether to follow up, what dice to select on a block, and whether to use certain skills (why the game asks if I want to Stand Firm while throwing offensive blocks remains infuriatingly unclear) can eat up a lot of unexpected time. You pretty much want to have decided what to do with all your guys and start doing it by the minute mark.