I had this until I gifted it to a friend. Funny thing is I think it was originally brought over from England and as a gift it went back!
Half of it is indeed a wargame, the other half is the rpg.
I think the raw math says something interesting. I don’t dispute it. However in actual play I’ve found fireball to be very effective as a player.
As a DM too, but I think that’s a different story.
The uniqueness of GURPS existed even in its simpler early box set form. It can retain that GURPSness and become a streamlined simpler game and not be this behemoth it has become in 4e.