Summer Haze
Banned
They use the same model, cutscene provides softer lighting + better self shadowing since it is a controlled environment. This has been proven with close ups of gameplay and cutscene model that have zero differences in them even when it comes to minute details such as facial hair.
In previous UC games Drake's ingame model had the exact same polycount as the cutscene model, but ofcourse cutscenes had superior lighting and shaders while also being prerendered. In case of UC4 it just seems they just use the lighting in a manner that best showcases the models.
I think what he is saying that, during gameplay, there are multiple models dependent on the distance of the camera to Nate. It would be wasteful to have the highest LoD model all the time at every distance.