MTA is indeed the better mod on pretty much all aspects.
Ever since 1.0 was released, MTA's player count has been increasing steadily. I mean, just look at it right now:
http://www.game-monitor.com/search.php?game=mta
This would be completely impossible half a year ago, more and more Sa-mp players are seeing the light...
The new record for MTA is 1500 players online at the same time yeh?
If the MTA team and the community keep doing what they're doing quite well atm, I wouldn't be surprised if MTA hit 5000 players a year from now...
MTA will eventually get the recognition and player base it deservers, all we need is patience