I actually find that my experiences of ales varies from day to day, depending on my shifting climate of micro-taste. Sometimes a love a dark, malty, even chocolatey number, other times a lighter, less busy taste and occasionally* even a zingier model.
* actually not very often.
My local always has Doombar
And it always has either Harveys or Young's Ordinary. I find the latter thin and slightly watery, lacking in flavor. The third pint is rotated as per the brewery's rules i.e. it can only come from certain other brewerys. Which is sh1t. The other day it wasa Warringtons, a golden ale that tasted like watery grapefruit juice. Absolutely vile.
If only my local was a freehold.
There is some truth to that but I think you overstate it.
Lager has more taste than you give it credit for and on a hot sunny day there is simply no comparison. Also, even a bad lager can be enjoyable under the right circumstances whereas I have had real ales that made me want to spit them out.
So no, real ale is not better, merely different and a chap should be able to enjoy both.