Well, we haven't maxed out this generation yet.  But, beyond this, there has been a push to go FULL HD.  And doing this eats RAM which could be used for rendering detail at a lower resolution.  I believe next generation should begin to capitalize on things better.

Maybe, it all depends on when it is released and the hardware it is released on ...

Several months back there was an article that nVidia (I believe) took 3 Geforce 9800 (IIRC) and performed real time raytracing on a scene that was similar to a lot of racing games ... The overall effect was something that was superior in geometry and texture to a game like Gran Turismo 5 except it was raytraced. At the end of 2009 we will (probably) be able to get a similar effect from the high end graphics cards at moderate resolutions in demos, and by the end of 2012 you may see real-time raytraced images in-games (and certainly by the end of 2015) ..

from sunil247..

Per the article http://www.gtplanet.net/looking-beyond-gran-turismo-5/

Before you read anything else (and anyone posts this on a forum/blog without proper citation), this Koenigsegg CCX rendering has nothing to do with Gran Turismo 5. So, what’s it doing on GTPlanet? ‘Proper Graphics‘, the imaging company who created the model did actually have GT5 in mind, crafting it within Polyphony Digital’s polygon and texture specifications. As you can see, though, the level of detail is considerably higher than anything we’ve seen in GT5 Prologue, due to the fact that it’s rendered by itself on high-end computer hardware. A game’s many environmental variables probably consume too much of the PlayStation 3’s processing power to give us anything like this at the moment, but make no mistake - Gran Turismo 6 won’t look much different.

So let me make this clear this video doesn't have to do anything with Gran Turismo 5 the video was rendered by itself on high-end computer hardware, not on a PS3..

I read the article wrong I thought that was GT5 ....what a bummer.

So what we see currently on prologue that's what you will get not what is on that video..

That's why so far those pictures of PGR4 looks better than those of GT Prologue..

I got to give to PGR4 as those pictures shows..

Gran turismo 5 final version going to look EXACTLY LIKE THAT

There are only three cars in the world that are drool worthy: the Evo, the current Carrera S and the Lotus Exige.

If you also want to count "non-conventional" cars, yet still street-legal I am willing to add a proper super-7 replica (you know, Catterhams etc) and maybe the Atom.

By the way, I'm glad a thread about racing games is turning out so good, they usually become a flamefest. *knocks wood*

awesome song and it looks amazing :P