Vercetti gang can just dream of being better than Grove. Vercetti has nobody apart from Tommy, Grove has CJ and Sweet.
And Carl is better than Tommy in every way, he is much smarter, doesn't just walk around do anything to own the town, Carl is smart, he goes works with people and then finds a good time to backstab them, just like how he did with the Loco Syndicate, and Salvatore. Claude is also better than Tommy. What would Tommy think about instead of CJ on "Lure"? He would tell them that he gives 10 kg cocaine so they leave the Triads. While CJ was smart, took a car as a decoy predicting as Ran Fa Li sitting in the back and him driving, he took the Da Nang members chasing to the countryside and told them to "suck a dick" and go back like just making fun. And who exactly hates CJ? Ballas and Vagos? He kicks their asses out of San Andreas as soon as he comes back.
Talking about gangs hating, it makes you tougher, remember. Claude was hated of every gang expect for the Southside Hoods and the Yakuza, everyone else shot his cars and well, he battled through some ways to do small things with the Mafia shooting with shotguns and then kicked the Cartel's ass who carried AK's and flame throwers.
All of the protagonists are badasses in their own way.