I agree. From reading the docs, and also having my head in several frameworks (including one I've developed) for over five years, Fuel really doesn't seem to bring a whole lot more to the table than is already there.

While it may turn out to be a grand success (and I truly hope it is), I think PHP is, as you mentioned, much too fragmented to have an end-all-be-all framework of choice. Another successful framework will not unite PHP as much as add more fragmentation. This isn't necessarily bad (having more choices is fine), but a "one framework to rule them all" attitude seems a bit far-fetched (not that Fuel has this attitude, more the author).