It did indeed, but I feel like as a result of pushing so hard it had more rough spots than UC3 or Ascension.

UC3 was my runner up lol gorgeous game.

GTAV and TLOU, both pushed the system to its limit but I also would like to mention Motorstorm, that game blew me away visually, and also it was a very fun game! Also came out 6 years before the first two games I mentioned.

Some fantastic choices from those who went with a game not in the voting options.

It is actually shocking how good Killzone 3 looks. They were super ambitious with KZ2 and KZ3 took what they had before and brought the scale up even further.
God of War ascension was also a showpiece for the system but it also has the benefit of fixed camera positions and environments only visible from a distance. The Last of Us is just the perfect case scenario when it comes to graphics, however. Everything is so well done and they even have proper bounce lighting from the flashlight.
I have to say TLOU but those other two games stand tall with it.

The Last of Us

Considering realistic styled graphics; The Last of Us > God of War Ascension > Uncharted 3.

Of what I played anyway, I assume something like Gran Turismo 6 looks pretty good as well. I think GTA doesn’t look good at all. Though I haven’t played much unrealistic looking games on PS3, I’m also not really considering them because those kind of looks are a whole different ballgame.

GT6 probably have the better look and most realistic one of all the list. But cars are somewhat rigid and simpler to portray than humans. The uncanny valley is less likely (we even were impressed with GT1 on PS1), textures are simpler to get than human skin, pores, fur, etc. Also it have less moving objects on screen at any given time, most of stuff is reasonably far from view.

Several stuff make it a little easier to achieve photorealism on racing simulator than on an action game.

Don't count out Flower. Truly impressive what the did with movement

I actually thought TLoU was a step down from Uncharted 3. The initial scene was incredible but when the game began properly, that detail went down (imo).

As for my opinion on what's the best, I skipped GoW Ascension thought GoW3 was absolutely stunning at the time. I played MGSV on PS4. Probably missed a few great looking titles when I made the jump to 8th gen. I'm gonna say Uncharted 3. It's just an all around stunning package.

*Edit* Beyond was stunning, too! Looked better than most PS4 games I was playing at the time. It had some glitches but I was able to overlook that.