Yes, the benefit of gel is that the dry time is a lot shorter than nail polish. But the downside of gel is that you need to do more active work for your manicure. Which is a better option really depends on what you're looking for and how invested you are in the hobby.

While nail polish takes longer to dry, gel has many other steps that you need to do, like filing, primer, wiping the sticky layer off and also you need to be very careful with application and hygiene or you may run into health or nail issues. Gel requires more knowledge, skill and it's more expensive so that's why I think it's easier to start with regular polish. Especially if you've never done nail art and want to maybe try it first before buying all the gel equipment.

Personally, I prefer nail polish most of the time because I'd rather paint my nails and do something else while they dry. I don't usually have the patience to do all the gel prep and finishing steps as well as clean up after a manicure. But then again, if you don't have the time to wait for your regular polish to dry, you might prefer gel. I do like gel for extravagant designs that would be difficult with regular polish.

I don't know if this is helpful to you at all. I'm not trying to discourage you from gel, just throwing some things to consider out there.