Well, since someone dug up an FM3 vs Prologue comparison, I thought I'd comment on their comments.
Why FORZA 3 Graphics are better then GT5 at the moment?
Amazingly Forza 3 developers Turn 10 have excelled and perfected their graphics details in a very important key area which GT5 still has to work on. That key area is penumbra or soft shadows detail information (extremely important to provide realism in game). To achieve dynamic lighting/shades/shadows (penumbra/umbra) detail; Xbox 360 uses its built-in DirectX feature along with ATI GPU Chipset to produce all these important aspects perfectly. On the other hand PS3 does not possess any of these qualities therefore resulting in artificial/poor or wrong shadow detail. It is quite evident in many previously compared titles that PS3 shadow/shades and lighting detail are either too dark or too light thus ruining the whole gaming experience especially when it come to dark/horror games.
The part I bolded is completely misleading and only partially true. For one thing, the 360 does indeed implement a tuned version of DX9, but it's the same graphics implementation used in FM2. The 360 can't use DX10 any more than the PS3 can. As a result, FM2 graphics, while very nice, still have PC game-like cues to bring your attention to the fake qualities it has. The screengrabs of FM3, while having more car detail and polish than FM2, still greatly resemble FM2.
As for the PS3 and RSX, it lacks any Direct X coding entirely. But is that a bad thing? Of course not, as you should realize if you've seen any PS3 games whatsoever. DX is nothing more than a set of graphics tools which enable easier programming of effects and features in the graphics chipset, among other things. PS3 developers instead use a different set of libraries called OpenGL, which may or may not require more work depending on whether or not you're a competent developer. There are also a growing library of custom tools devs are taking advantage of. Or they could avail themselves of the SONY group of developers who offer their knowledge freely. For instance, the Ratchet & Clank developer Insomniac offers their Nocturn Initiative, in which they freely offer entire features to other developers for free, such as their marvelous water builds.
For a little contrast, compare Gears 2 which uses what I consider to be a quite tired Unreal Engine 3, where to conserve resources, some scenes have animated characters which are little more than cinemas to fill up space. Or Halo 3 which ran at a very sub-HD resolution and angered many fans because of the pixellated graphics. Compare that with Metal Gear Solid 4 which has breathtaking graphics running at 1080p, or the astounding graphics of Killzone 2 at 720p. Or the defacto benchmark for graphics in any game right now, Naughty Dog's Uncharted 2 which blows any game away with its stunning visuals and near constant framerates. And, if a certain cinema of a next gen racer is indeed built from replays, another crown is about to be worn. And no Direct X at all.
People have remarked that the cars, while cleaned up in the reportedly "built from scratch" FM3 engine, still have a plastic look to them, or a model car appearance. I experience this myself when I watch FM2 replays, in that there are moments of realism, when the game manages to throw up a scene which looks amazingly realistic, but otherwise looks like a polished PC game. On the other hand with Prologue replays, overall they look astonishingly realistic, like real life racing footage as many have remarked, with
moments of a lack of detail which remind you it's only a game.
FM3 stills are a mixed bag. Sometimes the cars look studly, other times... still less than perfect. The same for the backgrounds, which seem to be loaded with textures in some shots, but like FM2, have tracks that look unfinished. And I mean about as unfinished as Prologue's High Speed Ring, a track which overall looks great but has glaring shortcomings in areas.
But since FM3 just has to be the DEFINITIVE RACER WITH MORE CONTENT THAN ANY OTHER GAME AND THE UNDISPUTED BEST GRAPHICS IN GAMING, you can count on this kind of thing popping up more and more.
