I consider AoE 2 to be the most difficult game I've attempted to play yet

I know that difficulty of a game is a very subjective term and could mean a lot of things so I'm going to explain how I mean it.

When I imagine the best player or the best possible play to be 100% and am supposed to rate my perceived performance in comparison to that best player as a percentage, it is much lower than when I would do the same in all other games I can think of.

For example: In a racing-sim, my lap-times are maybe around 105% that of a pro. So while I'd still lose all of the time, it wouldn't feel like there's an order of magnitude between us since the differences between a somewhat decent and a top-driver are nuanced.
In AoE2, however, the more the amount of stuff we have increases, the more extreme the discrepancy will get. Watching a pro-game and then watching myself play is completely different. To a point where I think that I couldn't even win a 3v1 assuming my teammates were as bad as I am.
If I use the racing-sim as comparison, my skill in AoE2 would be the equivalent of me leaving the track at every corner.

What I'm saying is, that in no other game before I've felt my performance to be so far off of what is possible.