Plot driven fiction doesnāt exclude any of it, because you always, always need to have character development, and it is an integral part of the plot. I think you simply label the books you donāt like as plot-driven. 3 Act structure accommodates the personal change story well, and tbh, nobody says that there has to be three acts. Sure, if you feel things are unnecessary, thatās your opinion on the book, but now you are saying that it is the personal development that is unnecessary...
And at any rate, to me, including the unnecessary things is more of a drawback of not planning, because if you plan, you create a story that fits everything well, and avoids the overblown tangents. It is actually one of the advantages of planning.
I just dislike the narrative that planners are non-creative and inferior to the god-inspired pantsers who pour their souls onto the sheet since itās the only way to fly, or that plot driven story doesnāt have good characters, just some cardboard cutouts with cheap drama thrown in