Like, you see cars like ferrari making absurd power figures with small block engines, like a 4 liter making 800hp. Is it just a cost thing that they would rather use a 10 liter? It makes the same power, and thanks to the transmission it’ll get the same torque at the wheel.
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Acceleration of large vehicles is limited by torque, the maximum cruising speed is limited by power. There are practical limitations to how high you can make a gear ratio, 10:1 is about the upper end which means if you need more you either need an exotic transmission with a worm gear in it or an engine which generates more torque.
In an ideal world with lossless gears of infinite strength you could just set the gear ratio to whatever you want and only worry about engine power, but in the real world you need to keep your gear ratios relatively short to avoid having a massive transmission or just shredding gears as you go.
High rev engines also tend to be running at the upper limits of their materials and need more maintenance to keep them going. A big diesel is running well below the limits of the materials and the weight of the engine doesn’t matter when you have 20 tons of cargo in the back
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