I find that San Marzano pealed whole tomatoes are best, and it makes a big difference what brand you use. So far as I’ve found, Wegman’s brand 96 oz. San Marzano are the best (and cheapest) with the 96 oz. can from Cento being almost as good.
when I was young, I don’t remember that the canned, diced tomatoes were even available yet. We bought canned whole ones and squished them for recipes in our fists :-)
(And I think they were better than the chopped-up ones are now.)