1.- I'm comparing GTA V with GT6, having tried the actual demo on an expo and from the info we know about the latter: 'standard' cars, 'standard' sounds, 'standard' tracks. The comparison never was GTA IV against GT5. I've played GTA extensively as well.
2.- The reason I'm comparing both is precisely because it sounds silly to do so: they are different games in which GTA is under a massive disadvantage in this comparison, yet beats GT6 in specific aspects: there are no 'standard cars' (including convertibles actually being convertibles), there are no 'standard' sounds and funny enough both games are related to a previous version (GTA San Andreas and GT4 respectively) yet GTA V doesn't use that 2003 content while like 80% of GT6 will be. What there is in GTA though is a mechanical and visual damage model.
3.- The amount of performance Rockstar extracted from the PS3 is immense and again is in a disadvantage against PD, since it has to work on two consoles and the game itself is way more demanding. Sure PD did a great job as well, but uses the PS3 argument every single time while Rockstar just delivered, 0 excuses. Kaz excuses himself every single time somebody asks him about the series' flaws then proceeds to add decade long delays and release unfinished games, which isn't the correct approach to tackle issues.
4.- PD having that budget is either its fault or Sony's, cheaping out when this franchise is one of the most profitable of them all in videogames. Being PD a related company to Sony, if Sony made that call still isn't an acceptable reason because in the end the GT franchise is made by both companies.
On this regard of course Rockstar and PD cannot be compared, which I didn't and you added, but if you want to go for that route in the last console generation the direct racing games competition to this game created at least three times more "premium" content while having much less money to play with, just by spending it better and deciding to spend the money earned.
Actually games that have lets say 5% of PD's budget beat it massively in the mentioned three aspects and most issues don't have to do with having a massive budget. For example sound wise if the good old sound team cannot get the job done to 2006 or earlier standards in 2013 then it's time to get an entirely new one: PD doesn't do that and has little to do with budget. Another example is the amount of unfinished and unpolished stuff there is in GT5: that's bad focus, bad priorities, bad managing.
5.- While I'm a GT series fan, I think people should try other games -particularly of this genre- to realize PD is so behind the times and it is progressing slower than the rest. It's so behind even games of other genres surpass it in its expertize in some crucial aspects.
Part of me wants Forza5 to get 10/10 scores while GT6 receives a 7 or less, which is what GT5 deserved but reviewers couldn't do that as it is a big franchise. That way PD and Sony would receive the long overdue wake up call. There was a period in which the GT series was the very best in all aspects: right now it isn't in a single of them, including the manpower that saved it.
, I mean GT5 was the first major title with decent sounds that they actually tried.. I mean Gran Turismo 4 were awful.. 
