Some of the most incredible textures in the game are on the path to the distillery IMO. All the different rock faces, colors, and planet life, water dripping in your face!
What a incredible peace of art work. When you get there just take your time and look around. I hope you like the place as much as I do. :yes:

This is where I believe ID is ahead of the game as usual. They have made a great looking game, with high (not to mention consistent) frame-rate and a world the does not look like it comprised of set pieces or tiles. Fantards may decry it now but people will be riding on their coat tails... as usual.

Well I can't say I disagree with you on that. Clearly the best this game has to offer graphically are the outdoor vistas. The problem is the game is somewhat of a linear shooter, with most of the combat taking place indoors. It also provides very little incentive to explore the outdoor terrain, what with all the invisible walls and lack of items to find, save for a few plants here and there. Thus for the most part, the bulk of the outdoor viewing happens during races, trekking back and forth to towns, and whilst attempting jump completions.

Were it deeper in it's RPG elements, need for exploration, and more sandbox in it's terrain vs all the invisible walls, I could get into the nice look of the outdoors more. As is though the game gives you it's best graphics in places where play the least, and leaves you with muddy textures where you play the most. This shouldn't be. Far Cry was one of the first games with really good outdoor graphics, but you could also really do a lot of unencumbered exploring, and even use it in many cases for good battle vantage points.