to be honest.. I'm with you..  Peach's butt looks less defined in the biker suit than it did in Mario Kart Wii

I'm not genuinely comparing MK8 to DC, i'm just using them as references for the difference between high graphical fidelity vs mid-level. 

Likewise if someone were to say Knack was graphically impressive (which i doubt has ever happened, but you get the idea :p), then i would use Ryse as a compassion for why it's not. They are two completely different types of 3rd person game, but for the sake of comparison it works.

The fundamental problem with your topic here is that you are grouping "Nintendo Fans" as a collective. If someone has flip-flopped, you should call them out... ie, "TheLastStarFighter said graphics don't matter but now he's talking up MK8". The problem is, I doubt many Nintendo fans have flip flopped. The stereotype has just changed.

I've enjoyed Nintendo games dating back to their 3rd party days on ColecoVision, and Nintendo has almost always been at the graphical forefront. From Donkey Kong, to SMB, to SMB3 to Zelda:ALttP to F-Zero to DKC to OoT to M64 to Zelda:WW. The only time they haven't been is on the SD Wii, but even there SMG and Xenoblade pushed that system to its limits. I like Nintendo games, and I like nice graphics, and I think most gamers like both too.

As to your specific comparison, I do think MK8 is as impressive as Driveclub, and in some ways more. A flat sheet of metal is easy to make look good. Mario and his cart are far more complicated. Mario is fully animated and "human", which is tougher to do well than static flat metal. And you were very selective in your image choices to make your point. Both look great and are graphically impressive in their own way.

DC just looks like another great racing sim so I mostly compare games like that to something like Project Cars or Forza or GT and etc cause they are all going for that "realistic" vibe... MK on the other hand is going for that cartoony vibe where you just want to lick the world cause the art style is soo good! So I compare it to Modnations, Sonic and Allstars Racing Transformed and etc.

So even though it doesn't have the polygon count as something like DC, I like it more cause of its art style but I can see why people would like DC more... I also do think 60fps is very important in a racing games rather than high resolution which I have said in many other threads that are not related to MK btw so I do wish DC was 60fps rather than 30fps but thats for another thread

MK8 looks fantastic. HD, highly detailed, bright, quality visuals.

It fits the game's design, arcade, and crazy fun attitude while bringing the franchise skillfully into the HD era.

I don't know why anyone would want to compare it to any realistic racer. MK is simply in its own league as the one true video game racer.

720p/1080p is irrelevant in this case. Its perfect 60fps 100% of the time.

Mario Kart would be so much more fun if the carts / characters looked realistic... said no one ever.

Woo, someone agrees! My feelings are exactly the same. It just confuses me why many other Nintendo fans suddenly feel like it looking better because of art style isn't enough :/

Me too. Mariokart 8 looks below average compared to driveclub. Driveclub looks a lot better.

Also this pic says a lot of things. While nintendo's main targe market is minor gamers, sony's playstation was always all about grown up gamers. There was a time when it was easy to get excited for mariokart. But I have grown up. So do all of my gamer friends. None of them plays mariokart.

Tbqh I wouldn't even want Kart models with that level of details in Mario Kart. Like all Mario games (and most Nintendo games) Mario Kart has a very stylized artstyle. Having stylized characters sit in overly detailed karts would look...jarring to say the least.

Squirtle...  (I should have been a playable character in the game...)