I'm pretty sure that having a "high recoil" means the VS get a qualitative value rating of "High," not that the recoil itself is high. This is supported by
this Planetside2.com Empire Brief on the VS, where they state:
I believe the Devs have also stated elsewhere that VS weapons in general have less recoil. Which makes sense for energy-based weapons.
As for TR/NC recoil, it makes no sense to me that a weapon with higher kinetic energy per shot would have less recoil in short bursts.
They way I see it, the NC weapons have the most/worst initial recoil since their higher KE rounds would produce more recoil even in single shot mode. However, their RoF is slow enough that they can almost completely recover from the recoil after each shot, so over time their recoil doesn't get much worse over more sustained fire
The TR OTOH, have lower KE rounds and so have less kick on the first couple of shots, but their RoF is fast enough that they can't recover from their smaller recoil after each shot, so over time it accumulates and the cumulative effect gets worse the longer you fire.
I dunno, either of our lines of reasoning could be correct on TR/NC recoil. I'm at work right now, but when I get home I'll post the exact wording on the PCGUK graph since it wasn't exactly clear.