Even docker desktop runs the same way i.e they are running docker on a linux VM. It's hidden from the user but that linux VM can be accessed.
For improving performance, you can enable some of the newer experimental features in latest docker (Virtualization Framework and VirtioFS). The combination works really well except for databases [1] due to the way FS sync is handled. To fix that a setting need to be changed in the linux VM that docker uses. [2]. Hopefully docker will make that a default setting in the future.