The 6 liter is HEUI, also, but a newer generation of HEUI. The 7.3 liter HPOP would not keep up with the volume and pressure needed to make big HP. Also, the 7.3 started out much lower than the the 6 to begin with. Most were released at 235 HP, so the 6 liter had a 70 HP headstart on the 7.3 from the start. The VVT on teh 6-liter also allows them to create power where the 7.3's "dumb" turbo is not nearly as able. The stock 7.3 injectors suck, where the 6 liter had a pretty big headstart on injector flow and pressure over the 7.3. The 7.3 makes insane cylinder pressures when it is modded, as does the 6.0, but the 7.3 have a very large piston surface to transmit the pressure back to the bottom end (psi means pounds per square inch. More square inches=more pounds). I read somewhere that the 7.3 has about 25% more piston surface area than the 6.0, which means this...
At a piston surface area of 19.625" (a guess, and only a guess, but it works for a comparison) for the 6.0 and 24.53" for the 7.3 (25% more) and CPs of 2,200 psi, the stresses pushed back into the lower end by the CPs are
43,175 lbs for the 6 liter
53,996 for the 7.3
NOTE! These stresses are only what would occur if the piston was absolutely static and unmoving. I know that these stresses never actually occur in real world applications, it is just for comparisons sale.
Anyway, you can see that the 7.3 rods undergo a pretty substantially higher amount of stress, and here is the clincher, the rods, as far as I can tell, are nearly identical. YES, the 6.0 DOES have PMR's! I know this comes as a shock to some, but the PMR idea is not necessarily flawed, it is a good way to make a rod. The rods in the 7.3 are just undersized for the application, whereas they are not for the 6.0. I am sure that some will disagree and say this is a flawed analysis, but it is how I look at it.
In any case, slide a VVT, a better HPO system (or even, GASP, a HPCR!), stronger rods into a 7.3, and you are going to have a serious competitor.
Also, the programming just got better over the years, and the R&D is all going to the 6 liter, not the 7.3...