Yes, it does sound like a standard, acrylic paint. I think your present choice of Liquitex is very appropriate. Both liquitex Acrylic Gesso, and Grumbacher 525 Acrylic Gesso exhibit a nice "tooth" once they are dry. It is this sort of tooth (roughness) that allows a subsequent application of oil paint to adhere to the surface. I thin both of these primers with water, until they become self-leveling. That means that once applied with a brush, the brush marks quickly flatten themselves after a few seconds of time, before it dries. Grumbacher 525 is exceptionally stiff, and required a lot of water in order to cause it to become self-leveling.
Another acrylic primer to avoid is Golden, because it dries with a slick, shiny, plastic-y type of surface, much as acrylic oil paint does, also.