It is less efficient. That said, they aren't carrying a payload and they don't have to run it full on fuel, so it doesn't matter. More importantly, they care ab

It is less efficient. That said, they aren't carrying a payload and they don't have to run it full on fuel, so it doesn't matter. More importantly, they care about testing the landing which requires them to be a certain horizontal distance from the landing site, so it's easier to do that by hovering sideways so they don't get way too much height.