The WRX and Forester share the exact same motor, it spools very quickly by any standards.
The issue with turbo lag is you just get used to it and then it's no big deal. Every turbo car has some amount of lag, with experience you forget it's even there.
Dave, are you sure the Forester has dual scroll? Maybe it's the tuning, I don't know.
My grandfather had a truck he built up some, wasn't 4x4, but he ran really low rear end gears and big tires. It wasn't something you'd take on the freeway. But around town with the 4 speed, light to light, creamed everyone. It was either a 68 or 69 Chevy, shortbox 3/4 ton with small rear window. Supposedly they don't exist, but I can go poke it with a stick whenever I feel like so I'm fairly sure it does.
I built a 383 that was in a 69 GMC with all drum breaks. It had 2.05 heads with a cam that was just under .5 and duration around 270-280 (can't recall atm),
and 1.6 rockers... That was on top of 6" or 6.125" rods, so it revved up pretty high before it would float (blueprint & balanced). It had positrack but it wasn't enough for taking off in a truck. It went through several stall converters, trying to find one worth a damn at even at over 3k. Basically got a few repainted ones w/o b-plates that it was suppose to have. With the 3.73 rear end it would hit the rpm limit in final drive gear, which was just over 140mph I believe. My brother said he took it on this one road that has a corner at the end, he hit the final rev limit in the final gear, and said that the corner at the end was scary as shit since the drum brakes weren't doing a lot!
I'm sure it wasn't nearly as fast as Danny's Vette, but it was pretty fun in high school. None of the Russians with fake Type R Integra's would race after they actually heard it run. And with that MSD ignition it would start year round in one try. Then my brother's friend bought it, put it in his Blazer, and blew it into a million pieces because he wouldn't put oil in it (and it used a super tiny amount with the moly rings, so he went probably at least a year without checking).