I appreciate all the responses and viewpoints obviously.
I believe my flatscreen is this: Sony Bravia S-Series KDL-32S3000 32-Inch 720p LCD HDTV
Yet as I said I frequently play these games on a CRT with an SNES. I'm not saying my Wii U on the TV experience is identical to the SNES on CRT, but it certainly felt more "right" as proven by my control of the car being better.
The poster who mentions the screen being between my hands in a strange position might be on to something. If tests have proven that the gamepad is super low latency then it probably it's quite possible that it's the unfamiliar controller or screen placement.
Oh man, I guess this wouldn't be GAF if people weren't calling me out as an Xbone spy!
I believe when people complain about lag on the GamePad, what they're actually experiencing, often for the first time in years, is the relative lack thereof. Because GamePad latency is just 16ms. I experienced this as well when I got my Wii U and used off-TV play for the first time. I was so used to my laggy flatscreen that the timing on the GamePad felt completely wrong.
I hope this is the case!
I also want to say that the specific control issue I notice is the tap-left tap-right tap-left movements done with the d-pad to straighten out the direction of the car of adjusting Mario's landing. Not sure if that helps... sort of hard to explain. Oh, and I'm playing right in front of the television. About 4-5 feet away from the system. I'll have to try that gamepad test when I get home today.