The detail of all the buildings and objects in the distance, along with the lighting and reflective properties is so good that it damn near passes for CGI in a movie. I would say that is pretty impressive.
It is not even close to CGI!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/playstationblog/8493770440/sizes/o/in/photostream/
Uh, compared to what exactly?
Compared to even other parts of the same demo.