But that Nvidia competitor seems like a pointless and overpriced card compared to Nvidia’s consumer GPUs.

Sure.. but even going consumer, for 16gb+, you can get an ARC A770 for $80 less, or an RX 9060 XT for a few dollars more... Will it perform better, I don't know. RTX 5060 Ti 16gb is about $70 more.

Prices from NewEgg on 16gb+ consumer cards, sold by NewEgg and in stock.