Please stop while you are ahead...
There is a clear difference between these versions and versions on last gen, in FX on screen, polygon counts on screen, AF used, textures (texture resolution) and PBR and IBL.
And the amount of grass used..
And the physics engine that's next-gen.
Are you just parroting what Turn 10 and marketing guys said. This is not a PR thread, it's tech thread. What you see is not a lie, it's close to the final product, or at least the last two shots are from the final product.
Are you going to deny what you see, the flat lighting, the low poly/rez track detail because you want a better impression of the game to linger on your mind? This is a tech thread, not a leave Britney....errr...Forza alone thread. This is where we scrutinize the graphics. No one here will say to you don't buy Forza, we're just looking at the technical elements. There's no reason to get any panties bunched up.
It's also not wise to throw terms around, just because you hear it, you're talking about great textures, where are they, talking about AF, the game hardly has AF, you're talking about PBR, please show me.....are you talking PBM on cars and the coined up 3D pools? which are both underwhelming. Cars, don't look especially impressive in forza 6, so no matter how many tech terms you use, it's all about what's on screen and it's quality.
People/devs will do the very least to throw a tech term out, that doesn't mean anything, it's all about it's application and how good the implementation is. It's just like a dev saying we have AF but is only using 2x AF instead of 16x. Or a dev saying we have great filtering, but is using trilinear. You're not blind you can see for yourself, but you need to get a clue.
Further to that, you're talking IBL in one of the flattest looking AAA racers since last gen. The lighting system is not impressive and IBL has been a thing for the series since Forza 4, don't pretend that it's some new found wizardry, the lighting is still flat in F6 and it's one of the reasons the cars look so cartoonish and unrealistic.
As for the physics, it's all the same, just words, big numbers extrapolated and bullet points, it's all PR. Of all the racers you've played, does Forza have the best physics and the best driving model to you? I suspect if the dev told you that Forza 1 was 60fps you would believe that too, despite knowing better after the very first race.
I doubt you can see that in gameplay though, Turn 10 has focused on what really matters and manage to cram surprisingly great graphics into a rock-solid 60fps engine. I sometimes have to double-check and confirm that people aren't trolling and posts Driveclub or Horizon 2 pics and gifs. That is wizardry. It really shouldn't be that close to graphics-focused 30fps arcade racers.
What's cool too is that they didn't listen too much to the graphics complaints after Forza 5 and lowered the framerate and/or thecresolution just to compete in the still pic graphics race like so many other devs this generation. I honestly belive that Rise of the Tomb Raider, Uncharted 4, Gears of War 4, Driveclub, NFS, etc would all be pushing out 60fps if more people had talked about the framerate than the graphics and resolution during these last 2 years. All these devs aimed for 60fps in the start of the generation, but something happened, and now we're back to 25-30fps being the norm.
Seriously? I mean you must be joking bu....t. I think there's also the expectation that people want great looking games at 1080p 60fps, we've had a few already and as consumers we want more, not a farfetched expectation right? There's nothing wrong in wanting great graphics and great framerate. The only thing I can say about Turn 10 is that if that's the best they could do, and that's all they could muster with the hardware, fine I just expected a bit more for IQ even for the XBO from a first party.
Well, that's a narrow-minded view of things. You talk as if they have a choice, given their clear unwavering performance goals and constraints of the hardware. And pointing out obvious visual compromises doesn't contribute much to the overall tech discussion if you're gonna ignore everything new they've introduced in this year's title. I'm all for highlighting flaws (as if people really can't see them but sure), we should also show areas of improvement if you wanna come off as an enthusiast of all things visual tech (which you don't seem to be).
There was PBM in Forza 5 for cars, what's new besides the uhhhh "3D" puddles and extra cars. Perhaps you can do a F5 to F6 comparison to show the huge improvement F6 brings. Perhaps you can touch on PBM, IBL, Shadows, AF, textures etc.....