The fact that mouse acceleration curves are such a common irritant is a bit mystifying to me. I jump between macOS and Windows frequently and occasionally dabble with Linux, and any differences in "cursor feel" disappear within ~30s of usage, after which I can't tell that there's differences in the curve at all unless I'm specifically looking for it.

Ditto, it's something I rarely notice and that never bothers me. I game on Windows, use Linux desktops occasionally, and work on macOS mostly. Former mainly-Linux user, too. Whatever the defaults are for Mac cursors don't bother me a bit. In fact the only system customization I really do with a new Mac is to install Spectacle, and then use its defaults without configuring it further. That's about it. Oh, and set caps lock to an extra ctrl, which you can do through the normal Mac settings panel with a few clicks. Otherwise, I don't even know what I'd want to customize, behavior-wise.

Have you tried using tools like Steermouse? It has been awhile since I've used it but as I recall it allows controlling a lot more of the mouse behavior than the system does in System Preferences.

I have used a few tools, but most of the ones that worked for me in the past died in the last few major versions of OSX. I don't believe Steermouse was one of them, though.