I still don't see it, but maybe your grittiness and realism only takes higher contrast and a pair of someone else's prescription glasses.  Or perhaps your realism and grittiness needs a big gun on the screen.

lool.

I still think you're crazy.

lol good job. U overdid it a bit but the comparison is more fair when it comes to blurryness now.

With the blur your hiding a bit ov the textures, I admit, but there's still a dramatic difference between the two shots.

The first one is realism á la GT5. Has the same cold and white lighting. Lots of reflections and HDR. Lots of different shades. Cold color palette. (love it)

The second is cartoonish á la Uncharted. Warm colors. Yellow lighting. Almost no reflections, no HDR. (I don't like it)

I really need help here lol. Plz help me convince our friend that we're seeing two completely different styles of grafix here.

For example, look at the difference between the guns in these two shots:

I don't think we are looking at different styles there. Just different builds with the latter having better lighting.
You really should compare two pics both first person for a better comparison.