Most of this is way over my head, but a question for those who understand this tessellation.
Is tessellation what causes cars to change appearance depending on how close to them you are (talking about other players' cars in an online lobby)?
With many cars, when you see them at a distance, they appear completely stock. But once they cross a certain threshold, they change to their true appearance. In other words, a car with a body kit on it will look stock at a distance...but the body kit magically appears as soon as you get close enough. Same with stock wings that have been removed.
Not sure if all cars do this, but I've noticed it most with the body kits on the premium ISF and Silvia K's Dia, along with the wing on the standard Mustang SVT.
The same thing happens with visual damage. Even if visual damage is turned off, when you see a car at a distance, it looks like a beat up PoS...but as soon as it crosses that magic threshold, BAM!, it looks like new.
I'll also add, great work on the OP. The photos are amazing.
That said, I agree that all of this eye candy is a waste of time and resources when other aspects of the game (physics, content, features, new car models, updating standards, etc) still seem so incomplete.
I buy GT games for the driving experience, not so I have a pretty screensaver for my TV.