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Of course they don't attempt that style. Real restaurant burgers are often >$10 [including fries, no drink]. Even fast casual places like Five Guys are much more expensive than In-N-Out. Diners as well, much more expensive than In-N-Out.

While you deride In-N-Out, and you're absolutely wrong on that front, I would note that according to the web site for P Terry's their burgers, despite being in a much lower cost-of-living / rent location than most In-N-Out locations, are even more expensive than In-N-Out. That's surprising.

But while I'm not going to say anything positively or negatively on P Terry's [as I've never been there], this is why I highlight how wrong it is to compare In-N-Out to restaurant burgers, fast casual burgers, or diner burgers. The proper comparison is to a Big Mac, or a Whopper, or a Wendy's burger, i.e. other fast food burgers at a similar price point. In-N-Out mops the floor with all of them.

Lots of differences.  Restaurants, especially fast food ones, tend to season down to the lowest common denominator.  So their food ends up bland, by design.

Also, quality control.  Fast food restaurants are making dozens or scores of burgers at a time.  I'm making 4 patties for my family, or maybe 10-12 if we have guests.  I'm able to take much more care in forming, seasoning, and cooking those patties, than any restaurant can.

For any home cook that knows what he's doing, it's not difficult at all to make better food than a restaurant can.  We've actually discussed this concept quite a bit on this forum over the years (decades).

My brisket is better than Aaron Franklin's-- not because I'm a better cook, but because I'm typically only cooking one or two briskets at a time, I'm selecting the meat myself, I'm doing all the trimming myself, I'm controlling the temperature on a much smaller pit that has fewer hot spots, I'm checking for doneness at more carefully calculated times, I'm pulling it at exactly the right time, I'm letting it rest for the right amount of time, and perhaps most importantly, I'm slicing it for my family and friends' pleasure, with absolutely zero worries about meat costs and yields, so I can easily toss the bits that don't meet my quality standard, while restaurants will often serve them anyway because they have to worry about yield and profit margins.

I think prices have gone up here, actually... It's very close. I think from my look at the P Terry's web site it was about $0.10 more expensive, so it's even closer than you describe.

I think in general EVERYTHING in California is more expensive than pretty much anywhere else I travel. Part of that is due to the cost of land, but also due to all the costs of wages, taxes, etc.

But the point was that trying to compare In-N-Out to other burgers is hard because price point is often forgotten. I'm not trying to compare to P Terry's as I've never eaten it. So I don't know if the differences you highlight are a matter of quality or cooking skill, or if the differences are a matter of taste.

I had always heard about how good In N Out burgers were.  So, a few years ago I was in Anaheim for a work conference and my company had In N Out cater an after hours cocktail hour.  I was really disappointed.  I mean, they were fine and I ate a couple but it wasn’t anything special.  Maybe I had just built it up too much in my mind and it wasn’t going to meet that expectation. I don’t remember it being any better than a Dave’s double from Wendy’s (which is a fast food burger I really like).

No I mean between a diner style burger and a freshly griddled burger

Well, I don't ever think it's fair to judge anything by catering.

There's a big difference between a burger that had been sitting in a warming tray for the last 45 minutes because they had to prep them in bulk for a huge crowd, and a burger freshly cooked and eaten immediately.