Rega RP8 and alternatives in $3000-4000 range

I am going to attend the Capitol Audio Fest this weekend.  Out of curiosity I will take a look at the VPI turntables; the company usually has a big display at the CAF.  Yes, the only reason why VPI tonearms (in general?) would work better with MM cartridges vs MCs would be due to their effective mass (if it's in general too low for most low compliance MCs) and maybe their tendency (not) to dissipate energy that MC cartridges are said to put into the tonearm via the headshell. (But the printed tonearms ought to do that quite well due to the homogeneity of their construction.) The good thing about tonearms with low effective mass is that one can always add mass. (I don't know why I seem to be defending VPI; I have never owned one of their products, and I am a diehard DD and idler-drive aficionado.)

As far as I know, VPI tonearms tend not to have ANY anti-skate provision save for the effect of the lead-out wires from the arm wand.  I guess they recently gave in to demand and added an anti-skate device to their option list. (I could be wrong about the latter, and I am too lazy to Google it.)

tzh, I am wondering why you judge a turntable based on the tonearm that comes with it.  Is it imperative to purchase the VPI tonearm as a package deal with each of the two VPI turntables that you mention?  Until now, I did not think so, but I certainly could be wrong.  Also, I truly don't understand why the choice of cartridge type (MC vs MM) makes the lack of anti-skate more or less tolerable.  Both types of cartridge will create a skating force when used with any pivoted tonearm, VPI or other.

What about speed accuracy and stability, vis a vis the RP8?  I have been led to believe that Rega turntables run a bit "fast".  Does the RP8 include a motor controller, unlike the less expensive Rega turntables?