The T-max films do "need" the use of Rapid Fixer and careful processing. they do test out "better" as far as grain to speed ratio. the curve is flatter and so forth. they have always been higher priced than the conventional films which I assume is because the manufacturing takes more time and expense.
Ilford has their "Delta" series which is similar technology wise to T-max. the technology is the basis of the "Vision" series of Movie negative film, which went through 3 series while Kodak and Fuji were competing against each other in that segment.
personally, I end up using HP5 (not t-grain) myself.
EDIT: typos fixed