What's up with Sony & powerful systems?

I have always thought that the power advantage the PS3 had was so minimal that the average consumer wouldn't notice the difference anyway. Somebody who looks at a PS3 exclusive and then a 360 exclusive wouldn't be able to say which system has the better graphics. Yet, on paper, the PS3 seems to be capable of more visually.

Fast forward to the upcoming gen of systems and Sony seems to be doing the same thing. On paper, the PS4 will be the most powerful system of the gen. Look at the games though, and most people won't notice a difference between it and the XB1.

My question is... Why? I could be wrong and admittedly I'm not the most tech knowledgeable person of the bunch, but I would think this slight bit of extra power would cost more money. If the benefits aren't even that noticeable, why do it?

Again, I could be completely off base so just explain it to me if I am.

Visually speaking, the ps3 was always ahead of the curve at least when compared to the 360. Look how long Uncharted 2 held the "best looking console game of all time" title. I think it was at least until UnCharted 3 stepped up.

Some consumers take console power in consideration when making a purchase. So that's one reason.

For experiences like Uncharted 2, Uncharted 3, and The Last of Us. Things you don't see on the competitors machine.

The developers will prefer (as always) to make first-party games for Sony.

Because the highly paid engineers that designed this system are frauds. Either that or they know what they are doing and designed the system with its specs for a reason.

More powerful and cheaper than XB one. Yes please!

My buddy who doesn't even play video games recognizes that PS3 exclusives look better than 360 exclusives. Not sure what you're seeing.

Anyhow, I'm pretty sure the gap between the PS4 and One is bigger than last gen. If I remember correctly, The 360's GPU was actually more powerful than the PS3's. The PS3 was only more powerful than the 360 overall because of the cell. The Xbox One, however, isn't more powerful than the PS4 in any regard. Even if there isn't that much difference in real world performance, the 50% faster GPU and 2 gb more and faster RAM for games will at least sound impressive to most consumers, especially with that lower price.

For the PS4 ... Future proofing and the exclusive, in my opinion, distinguish the system from the competition. PS3's first party games like Uncharted and God of War definitely set it apart from the 360. But this is something the 'core' would pick up and not the dudebro segment. Since PS4 is everything the PS3 was, and wasn't at the same time. Powerful (was) and easy to program for (wasn't). Plus, the extra horsepower will allow the games to shine for a longer period of time. If cycles continue to go beyond 5 years like this one then there won't be a need to upgrade too soon.

Was PS3 ever really ahead visually though? Sure, Uncharted 2 was praised very much for its great graphics but again, does it really matter if it looks a bit better than Halo 4 or Gears Of War 3? I guess for people on here it does but the majority would likely not care. I honestly can't see any difference between the 2 systems and I know I'm not alone.

So the PS3 had 3 games that made good use of the extra power? I know you only named the best 3 but I really can't think of any others.