There's one thing I don't understand from what I've read on the Vue forums. Why is speed of renders so important? OK, I understand that if you're producing something for commercial use & have tight deadlines then I understand this. But I'm quite willing to have a render take an extra 4 or 5 hours if it means the end result is so much better. Ideally we would all love fast renders with expectional quality, but in most cases I don't think this is going to happen.
Custom settings are definitely the way to go.