Another thing: when the N1 program flopped the Soviets still didn't have a moon lander, a bunch of space rendezvous experience, et cetera. The American moon landing was really accomplished by two programs - Gemini and Apollo - while the Soviets tried to do everything at once and the result was the largest non-nuclear explosion of all time.

So they decided to just focus on what they had an advantage in: automation and precision, which left the moon program on the wayside.