You contradict yourself:
“Nowadays, turbo are tuned for all the torque “right now”
“but the turbo lag was atrocious.”
{William F. Buckley voice}The trend in turbo tuning has engine torque curves reaching a plateau, near peak torque values, low in the rev range, as opposed to other engines have that steep torque curves that reach peak value high in the rev range. These latter engines are considered "peaky" and must be kept in a narrow rev range to access peak torque and horsepower.
This is not to be confused with throttle response, which can be affected by many factors, one of which is turbo lag. Turbo size is usually a compromise, and inertia can cause a lag between throttle input and intake pressure increasing. One method used by manufacturers to address this issue is a twin turbo setup, with one small, low inertia turbo providing quick boost at acceleration, and a second, larger turbo, providing sustained boost. Of course, this solution is expensive, and more often used in higher end cars. {William F. Buckley VOICE/}
Also, shoo gadfly. You knew exactly what I meant.