Having one fewer feats (setting aside that it's an optional rule, because the natural response is that everyone uses them, and it's true, they do) is a false equivocation to "can never be as good as a different race". You can be as good as them at your class skills; that's factual, true and simple. You might end up with slightly less freedom to branch out or add extra variables, because you do need to work harder to get there (and, incidentally, the argument also relies on imagining that the ability score improvements you do get for your race simply don't exist or don't contribute to your character in any way... also a convenient fallacy for the argument), but in terms of being able to do the things your class does? You absolutely can be, and it's a dishonest argument to claim otherwise.
