Driving lower usually loses to sailing higher/faster since the VMG is better with the latter method. Also, I have been in situations where I was resigned to making 2 more gybes to make a mark rounding, and so stayed at a fast angle. As the wind piped up, we got a great improvement in apparent wind angle as the boat sped up. This let us head off to a much lower angle to the true wind than we otherwise would have been able to by just soaking ("pinching") down to start with. Suddenly, we were able to make the mark without the extra gybes and actually passed a leading boat doing the low & slow thing by several lengths.
Mike.