Sword/Shield came out in 2019 and with Scarlet Violet releasing in late 2022. You could play 3 hour sessions 100 times from Sword/Shields release to Scarlet/Violet then do the same thing in those games and that's 600 hours. Plenty of time to spare to play other games over 6 years. All that to say 600 hours ain't much even less if they also played PLA and the Diamond/Pearl Remakes in that time. Saying the series needs to evolve is certainly a valid critique but they're basically complaining that a side game that most fans enjoy is refining the mechanics it introduced. So someone who essentially plays the games casually is saying a game that hasn't released is going to suck even though it actively addresses some common complaints about the series.

Vegeta is basically just slightly less powerful than Goku. At the start of the series he was probably just like Frieza had never encountered an enemy who forced him to get better. His first battle with Goku was a push, seeing Goku become a super Saiyan first was the fire to really become the strongest. The difference though is Vegeta is always trying to sur Goku specifically.

Goku on the other hand is looking for the next challenge regardless of who it is. But that makes a world of difference. The minute Vegeta stops chasing Goku and starts aiming to be the strongest overall is when he'll equal or sur Goku