Regardless of HTA, steering feel is largely controlled by rake, which can make up for the actual steering angle by keeping the trail numbers consistent across size ranges.
I think wheel-flop has a much larger effect on handling than trail and is felt much more than any other metric. A 3mm difference in wheel flop between two bikes is very obvious when riding, 3mm of trail, rake, wheelbase or really anything else does not create nearly the same feedback.
This i-bob post from a few weeks ago has thrown me for a loop, so much of bike geometry is based on iterative development and not on a mathematical expression of design. Or ex post facto rationalization.