Perhaps when you look at the past and using hyperbole.
I wasn't being hyperbolic. UE2-3 rendering was by far the weakest part of the engine, and it frequently needed large changes to ship competitive products. Or ship any products at all - if we look at PS2 generation.
And while the kind kind of smaller-scale low-level optimizations talked about in this thread are certainly not in every-developer's wheelhouse (regardless of the engine) when you build games, particularly as independent developer, you will take whatever competitive edge possible, and if that means getting hands dirty with the 3rd party tech, the cost is well worth it.
The attitude that their precious box should be able to do insurmountable things and ignoring reality is frustrating to say the least.
That's totally fair/true - but it cuts both ways. The attitude that 'whatever Epic does is the only way to build things' is not really any better (and this also isn't a new thing - it again permeates all the way back 20 years in this industry). Consoles certainly aren't able to compete with PC in raw power, and that is reflected in what can/can't run. But that also means they aren't necessarily best suited to run things built primarily around PC extensibility either.