Yep, it's definitely a self-perpetuating thing.  The overwhelming amount of support creates a classic chicken-or-egg-first  scenario.  There is some intrinsic quality to the model, though, I believe.

The only thing about V4 that really jumps out at me as looking unnatural is the joints.  The worst of them iis the infamous shoulder crease, which Corvas has done an excellent job of correcting, while the less noticeable elbow and knee creases only show up at sharp angles and can usually be postworked out with ease. 

As a couple of nitpicks, her waist is a bit dainty for my tastes, and it's true that her default face isn't attractive at all, but the myriad of moprhs available for her make those issues easy to mitigate as well.  Plus, the rather blah face increases versatility by serving as a common base that works well enough both for those droves of artists who aim for beauty and those few who want to highlight more ordinary or even ugly looks.  I took a similar approach to my transgender base utilities.  Victor for V4, while hopefully masculine enough to be convincing, is intentionally slim because it's much easier to beef up a wimp than to do a muscular liposuction on an already buff figure (coughMike 4cough).  Michelle for M4 is curvy, but not so much that you can't shape her into a more neutral shape if it serves your needs.

I'm sure versatility plays its part too.  I entered the Poser/Daz community with P6 and V3, so the only other figure I've dealt with any more than brief dabbles is Jessie, and I remember that she was quite difficult to morph into anything really unique.