vim is an editor ;), not a terminal emulator. You can use screen(1) to log interactive (and non.) sessions to a file, scroll the buffer, copypaste on the screen within the session and so on.

This is generally where vim's mindset differs from emacs' - it doesn't try to do everything under the sun (and on the Sun) on its own, but usually easily integrates with something that does what you want.

screen understands the vi movement keys in scroll mode, so one can get used to it quite quickly if one knows vim well.

Makeshifts last the longest.