Shit, mentioning the T1 really made me have a minor flashback. Yeah. Back in the 90s computer processing power varied dramatically between users. Like when I got a 386 around 1990 it had a whooping 40mb of space and 1mb of RAM. It was a lot for the time. We never had to run anything directly off disks. But just 3 years later when Doom came out (and I remember the launch of Doom) i was surprised that we couldn't have it because it needed 4mbs of RAM. Also our computer wasn't fast enough anymore so when we DID finally get it years later we needed to use the smaller screen option to get it to run fast enough otherwise it was too choppy to play.
Someone playing Quake, a game that only came out a few years later, with that kind of machine you're talking about would dominate. Not because of skill, but simply that his comp has the speed that can allow him to act and react much faster than his opponents.
It would be like if you took a modern formula one race car from 2025 to a formula one race in 1925. A medicore driver would win, but not for skill.