First of all, reference counting is a GC algorithm. Mark and sweep is an example of a tracing GC algorithm, which is usually faster than reference counting, but it is true that Rust normally does not rely on any GC, static or dynamic at all, but on manual memory management, assisted by the type system.

The thing is that most of what you said about Rust is true of C++ as well. It really isn't hard to write a good fast program in C++ once you know it. The problem -- as those of us, like me, who have been writing in low-level languages for a couple of decades now know -- is that low-level programs in any low level language are necessarily rigid. Changing something in one place often has a much bigger impact on the codebase than in a high level language, making the overall cost much higher.

Low level languages have their place, but they won't replace high-level ones for "ordinary" application development. People will only pay the price when that extra 5% is important or when running in a constrained environment. This is the same equation that's been around for twenty years and there's no sign it is changing.