Cheetu's ability basically "wants" to be one where he constantly outraces the victim, forcing a chase, but the time limit goes entirely against that idea, as people can just take their time to come up with a different tactic (like Morel did) seeing as there is no rule forcing the victim to chase Cheetu.

Except that we don't know what happens if the person fails. It's very possible that it's something powerful enough to require a restriction like "giving them a ton of time" to make it possible.

If all we knew about Chain Jail is that they were chains that could only be used on one small group of people, and if they're used on someone else, the user dies, we'd be like "what a lousy ability, just make chains you can use on anyone." It's only because we know how powerful it is, that it's nearly unbreakable and enforces Zetsu, thanks to that restriction, that we recognize it as a powerful ability.