Virtual consoles in Linux are a nice feature. I too wish Apple would include them.
I suspect that even if you managed to switch, it would not switch back.
Apple should add this as a power user option to the kernel. I'd really like to be able to run X11 in a separate virtual console rather than launching X11.app.
Personally though, the feature I miss most from Linux is not virtual consoles, but virtual desktops. There has GOT to be a way for Apple to leverage its work with fast user switching to allow us multiple desktops for the same user.