*It really stood out with M1 having a high percentage of VII's as compared to most of the synthetic oils in the table ... You would think M1 base oil quality would mitigate the need for adding a higher percentage of VII's ?
Mobil 1 focuses on fuel economy—hence a high VII content, which lowers HTFS (base-oil viscosity) and KV40 to improve fuel economy. The downside of a low HTFS is a high Noack volatility.
Base-oil quality is proportional to the inverse of (CCS) viscosity multiplied by the Noack volatility, for which I defined a "base-oil quality index (BOQI)" in the past. SpectraSyn Max low-viscosity–low-volatility (LV–LV) PAO by ExxonMobil leaves everything in the dust in the BOQI area if you watch the following video, simultaneously minimizing viscosity and volatility, hence maximizing BOQI.
VII deposits are less of a concern with modern OCP VIIs.