I never liked Rails templates because I felt the quality of the final product was never on par with what you would setup from scratch. To that end, I created my own system that I call a Rails application prototype. If you are interested you can learn more about it here.
I can see both sides of the argument here. My application prototype is really slim and focuses on bootstrapping an application with a major emphasis on testing tools. Even tho it has a JavaScript MVC framework (Spine.JS) it will remove all traces depending on your setup questions. This approach to a lean prototype means it can easily be updated like a normal Rails application and changed/forked as needed. Best of both worlds hopefully.
This project from @metaskills is worth a close look, particularly to see the choices Ken's made in assembling a development stack. It's a great example of using a starter app as beginning point for a discussion about best practices. Carbon Five's RayGun is another. Compare the two and you'll learn a lot about high-powered Rails development and where it's going.
https://github.com/metaskills/holy_grail_harness
I can see both sides of the argument here. My application prototype is really slim and focuses on bootstrapping an application with a major emphasis on testing tools. Even tho it has a JavaScript MVC framework (Spine.JS) it will remove all traces depending on your setup questions. This approach to a lean prototype means it can easily be updated like a normal Rails application and changed/forked as needed. Best of both worlds hopefully.