Gravel is just a joyless slog on a road bike, at least in the parts of the world I've ridden. In Germany/Austria I did a lot of long backcountry trips in the alps etc., and many of the marked "cycle ways" are gravelled rather than paved. It's slow, you can't corner too hard, rocks ping off your frame all the time, and there's usually neither steep ups or downs since the gravel would shift if there were. So it is a constant source of wonder to me that gravel bikes remain a thing. I can sort of see the point if you live in the country with a mix of graded dirt roads and tarmac on a daily basis, but I've never had too many problems riding a normal road bike on those either.
Anyway, this is the LTIL thread, so I'll shut up now