I have owned a few vespa mopeds that had a smooth drive belt in stock setup, no variator or contra spring, just two fixed pulleys and a clutch.
I tried a belt with these V shaped incisions a few times, which was suggested as a performance mod by my local dealer.
The smooth belts had at least the same amount of grip as the ones with incisions (you could tell by the amount of tension you had to set them to before they would slip) - it's just like slick tyres on a dry road I guess.
The V shaped incisions on our belts are only supposed to make them more flexible for increased efficiency as far as I can tell...