Each contract involves 100 shares/units, so there's effectively some leverage built in which is reflected in day to day changes relative to the underlying asset but not at all in long term tracking.
To your last paragraph. Generally, options are not for investing they are for trading and hedging. Options have contract premium and time decay, at the retail level you can buy pretty long contracts, and buying puts can be a lower risk short-like position.
When you're investing the idea is to be in the investment for a long time, you're not going to be in an option for a long time.