I can't remember right now if this was officially implemented. It was intended to return a distance value from a 3D intersect. For example, if you wanted to measure the distance from four wheels of a vehicle on a sloped surface you would then be able to rotate the vehicle to match the slope. So the position is the point you want to check from. The vector is a 'ray' cast out in the direction given. The return 'should' be the distance from the point the Ray intersects with another 3D object.
Again however, I can't recall if it was fully implemented so it could do with some testing to be certain.