Comparison between: Maximum Absolute Difference & Min Steps in Infinite Grid
It is nice that you try to draw a comparison between two similar situations. However, it looks like you are driving too fast to stay on the right road. Henceforth I will be moving somewhat slowly so as to stay on the correct path.
What is generally considered as a distance? You might react, hi, I know what is a distance! Cool then. Here is the widely-agreed general definition of a distance according to Wikipedia as well as my years of practice in math and computer science.

In mathematics, in particular geometry, a distance function on a given set $M$ is a function $d: M \times M \to R$, where $R$ denotes the set of real numbers, that satisfies the following conditions:

$d(x,y) ≥ 0$, and $d(x,y) = 0$ if and only if $x = y$. (Distance is positive between two different points, and is zero precisely from a point to itself.)
It is symmetric: $d(x,y) = d(y,x)$. (The distance between $x$ and $y$ is the same in either direction.)
It satisfies the triangle inequality: $d(x,z) ≤ d(x,y) + d(y,z)$. (The distance between two points is the shortest distance along any path). Such a distance function is known as a metric. Together with the set, it makes up a metric space.


Now let us write out explicitly our distance functions and metric spaces.

In Q1, $f$ defines a distance function on all integers from 1 to $N$ such that $f(i,j) = |A[i] - A[j]| + |i - j|$. All integers from 1 to $N$, together with $f$ forms a metric space, say, $M1$.
Let $\Bbb Z^2$ be all the grid points in 2D. Let $d2$ be the minimal steps needed for you to move from point (x,y) to point (p,q), where each step must be one of the eight kind of steps listed. Then $\Bbb Z^2$, together with $d2$ forms a metric space, say, $M2$. Note that $d2((0,0),(0,1))=1$, $d2((0,0),(1,0))=1\,$ and $d2((0,0),(1,1))=1$.
Denote the Manhattan distance by $ma$, i.e., $ma((x,y),(p,q))=|x-p| + |y-q|$. $\Bbb Z^2$, together with $ma$ forms a metric space, say, $MA$. Note that $ma((0,0),(0,1))=1$, $ma((0,0),(1,0))=1\,$ and $ma((0,0),(1,1))=2$.

Now please follow my observations below.

$M1$ can be considered as a part of $MA$. Why? Define $e$: $i\mapsto (A(i),i)$. Then you can see that $d1(i,j)=ma(e(i), e(j))$, i.e., the distance between $i$ and $j$ in $M1$ is the same as the distance between $e(i)$ and $e(j)$ in $M2$. You can imagine that $e$ just embeds all integers $1, 2, \cdots, N$ in $M1$ to $MA$, keeping their pairwise distances. This is the simple reason why the accepted answer to Q1 can reduce it to given a list of points in 2D space (x[i], y[i]), find two farthest points (with respect to Manhattan distance).
$M1$ may or may not be considered as part of $M2$. It depends on how sequence $A$ is defined.

Let $A_k$ be 0 for all $k$. Then $M1$ is just those 1D integers with their usual Euclidean distance among them. It can be embedded easily into the $M2$, keep their pairwise distances.
Let $A_1=0$, $A_2=1$, $A_3=0$, $A_4=1$. Then you will find the four integers 1,2,3,4 in $M1$ has pairwise distance 2 except that $d1(1,4)=4$. However, you cannot find that kind of 4 points in $M2$. This particular example shows that your intuition &quot;both these questions are exactly the same&quot; is suspicious.


The distance in $M2$ is not a Manhattan Distance. You can have 8 points each of which is 1 distance away from any given points in $M2$. For example, $(1,0), (1,1), (0,1), (-1, 1), (-1,0), (-1,-1), (0, -1), (1, -1)$ are 1 distance away from $(0,0)$ in $M2$. However, there is only 4 points each of which is 1 distance away from any given point in $MA$. For example, $(1,0), (0,1), (-1,0), (0, -1)$ are 1 distance away from $(0,0)$ in $MA$. You can also check that $(0,0), (0,1), (1,1)$ is the vertices of an equilateral triangle in $M2$ with side length 1. However, you will not be able to find such an triangle in the Manhattan space $MA$.


Hopefully I have cleared all your doubts. Here are a few exercises for you to arrive at a better understanding of the concepts.
Exercise 0. Verify that $d1$, $d2$ and $ma$ are distance functions according to the definition.
Exercise 1. Suppose $A_1, A_2, \cdots, A_n$ is an increasing sequence of integers. Show that $M1$ can be considered a part of $M2$. Show that $M1$ can also be considered as a part of $MA$.
Exercise 2. Find 4 points in $M2$ whose pairwise distance are the same. Show that there is no 4 points in $MA$ whose pairwise distances are the same.
Exercise 3. Given an $m$ by $n$ grid in $M2$ with its bottom left corner $A$ at $(0,0)$ and its upper right corner $B$ at $(m, n)$. $0\le m \le 20$. $0\le n \le 20$.  Compute the number of paths starting at $A$ and ending at $B$, where you must always move closer to $B$ along the path.