Is Direct Drive Really Better?

yes...if you're grandmaster flash.

I understand fully well that any approach can be mishandled or compromised by price point considerations, sheer ineptitude or misdirection. Let those units go. They are not intended to influence this discussion.
Taking the best efforts in each of the various turntable drive options into consideration, do you believe any drive system to have an inherent design superiority. Is belt slack and take-up an insurmountable obstacle? Is there magnetic influence on the cartridge from the motor as your arm nears the center of the record on direct drive tables? Wouldn't it be better to rely on constant drive of the platter rather than requiring momentum for speed stability? How the heck can an idler wheel not transfer rumble? Is chain drive really dead? Can analysis be worthwhile........?

"constant drive of the platter "

The platter is still driven by a motor, and that motor is still subject to noise or vibration. One could argue that a belt filters motor noise.

Why would a lighter platter directly driven by a higher torque motor produce a more constant rotation with less noise than a massive platter driven with high inertia by a low torque motor ?

To me it is not obvious that direct drive has any advantage over belt drive.

I'll chip in a bit here. I've been using an LP12. It was enjoyable even though it wasn't maxed out. I now use a Mitsubishi LT-30, which is both DD and with a linear tonearm. The Linn provided a more spacious soundstage and great rhythm (toe-tappin'). The LT-30 sounds more emotional to me and my wife.

Seandtaylor99,
Please understand that I am not an engineer. What I pose here is speculative and lay in the extreme.
Consider that your stylus is being driven through obstacles such as a narrowing of the groove or some groove pattern of exceptional complexity. Or it is being dragged through by a belt with the aid of momentum. It seems that at the point of immediate resistance a mass no matter how great will hesitate slightly when confronted with the aforementioned obstacle. I imagine that a large motor directly driving the platter would not hesitate at this time. Further it seems that at take up a belt would stretch a bit momentarily.
As for vibration, I remember from my 1970s era audio sales days that higher end DD tables had rumble figures unimagineable to the belt drive units.