Yeah I sort of get what you
Yeah I sort of get what you're saying, but it depends on your perspective. Maximum acceleration ability of a given vehicle beyond a certain point is of no importance to some drivers and is not always the performance parameter that some drivers are looking at with a work vehicle. I'm one of those drivers. I prefer the easy-going manner of a diesel and it's ability to maintain a speed, rather than to continue to accelerate in all situations. I prefer, as was the case in my diesel car, that I would actually manually upshift while accelerating up a hill, rather than downshift.
In my current F150 with peak torque coming @ 3000 RPM and knowing how calling on the power train to perform (being a DI-turbo gas engine) will cause it to really suck the fuel, I'm very careful to slowly accelerate, so that it upshifts at or below 1800 RPM, which it will do since it's not a naturally-aspired gas engine and has the torque to keeping it accelerating (albeit slowly) and upshifting while keeping mpg respectable. But since this power train has much more available power on tap than what I usually need, I have to be careful not to call on it or otherwise pay for it. The good news is that I know how to get respectable mpg and I can keep the RPM low when commuting and not working it hard, yet have the performance available when I need it, and I didn't have to pay a $6K minimum premium required for a diesel to get some of that low-end torque I like.
But since this low-revving, high-low-end torque style of driving is my preference due to the refined driving dynamics it produces, all else being equal including price (which is not the case in the real world), a diesel would be much, much better than this advanced, spark-ignition engine, and that's because, if this truck were powered by an equally-torquey diesel engine, i.e. 3.2 I5 Duratorq @ 350 peak @ 1500-2500 RPM, mpg would not be nearly as sensitive to accelerator pedal pressure or adding load as is the gasser. This is because a compression-ignition engine can take all the air that the chamber can withstand, while the spark-ignition combustion chamber that is turbo-charged must maintain a fuel-to-air ratio that is comparatively much richer, and if I call on the turbo to spool fast and force air in, the fuel comes in just as plentiful. Also an advantage to the diesel is that, while my truck can reach peak torque @ 3000 RPM, the ability of a diesel to reach peak torque at only 1500 RPM means that it does not need to produce the same horsepower level to maintain the same speed, meaning its putting out less power and taking in less fuel to do the same work.
But like I said, everything is not equal and diesels are way, way to expensive for the benefit they provide, even though I do much prefer the driving dynamics of one if we lived in a different world.