Video Game Graphics vs Real-Life: Can You Tell The Difference?

Yeah, the GT5 copyright info certainly didn't help. Not sure why the guy didn't cut them out (or put text on the real pictures as well).

I don't think developers have quite figured out the best way to implement shadows. I've yet to see a game that does them really well, at least not at the expense of something else. Even the best usually have the same issues. I think I read that the shadow tech used in Doom 3 was a good method to create realistic looking shadows, but it is not really practical in most games today (think it required too many resources, more than most developers would give to create shadows anyway).

This is still a WIP (some pics were even from the PSN concept demo a year ago), so maybe they can figure something out before release. And hopefully that method could be used in other games.

As JuanValdez pointed out, it is a lot easier to make objects like cars look realistic. It will take some time before we can get real-time graphics that come close to making something like humans look realistic, especially outside of stills (IOW, great animation + great graphics). This is probably one of the better human faces I've seen in a game (not called Crysis ) so far:

Spoiler

A lot of things are noticeably wrong though, including the stylized hair of course.

Of course, I'm not trying to discredit the work Polyphony Digital has done with GT5. It certainly does seem a little ahead of its time graphically (especially when you consider some of the things they're doing).

I think that was partly done to create a bigger challenge. Given that a lot of gamers got perfect (or near-perfect) scores, the guy that did this probably should have tried harder.

As mentioned though, these graphics are all real-time graphics, not prerendered CGI. In fact, as I mentioned earlier, some are from a concept demo released on the PSN almost a year ago (and all pictures are a WIP, with the game probably being a year away from release).

If you're curious, here's an example of the gameplay visuals:

Spoiler

Note that they did fix a few things since this picture was taken, including the mirrors (they really stick out in this build).

 

Here are some more video game vs real-life pics, this time using pics from Crysis:

Spoiler

Some more pics (couldn't put them all in one post)
http://www.incrysis.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=291&Itemid=2

 

I think they previously denied (sort of) the possibility of bringing Crysis to consoles, but I believe Crytek recently said that they would consider doing so depending on sales, reviews, etc., of the PC version. Of course, it would have to be optimized quite a bit for consoles, and most likely won't look anything quite like the PC given the way the implemented the graphics.

Not sure if is a new project or just a project to port Crysis/CryEngine 2.0 to consoles, but I believe it was strongly rumored (and maybe confirmed) that the team was working on the PS3 and probably the 360 (don't think there was as much evidence for the latter, but don't see why not).

Not much out there yet. Polyphony is 100% dedicated to GT5 right now, even putting off GT4 Mobile until GT5 is done (or at least that's the official story). Might start getting details as GT5 starts wrapping up, although I'm guessing it might be more likely that they'll just add motorcycles to GT5 (and/or possible GT5 Prologue).