If I knew the file name, I could type it and it would be as efficient with a GUI as with a CLI. However, my initial assumption is that I don't know the file name (or it's location in a directory hierarchy) but I have to search for the file based on name, content, size, modification date, etc. A list view in a GUI can help a little but I still prefer find and grep to their GUI alternatives.
Thanks for the Ctrl-Space tip. I didn't know that shortcut. Seems to work in Nautilus too.
"scanning through the list visually will take an incredibly long time"
Just type the file name.
"You have to ctrl-click or do something similar (that's definately not keyboard friendly)."
On Windows, you use Ctrl-Space and Ctrl-Arrows.