In Racing:

From my experience, racing games became realistic in last gen's era and always excelled on PCs ofcourse. Although the Forza, Gt series are realistic in number of cars and physics they are not in the fact of environment. Gt being too dark with fake realworld settings and Forza's physics and car handling as well as crashes being 'impossible.' The most photo realistic game in this genre is probably Test Drive Le Mans for Dreamcast and what continued on to Xbox 360 is this series in its recreational original. Le Mans 24 hrs for Dreamcast has realworld lighting and effects to give that photo-realistic look in its replays as well (from a distance). Other genres, usually sports racing games because they have the fewest options and are the easiest to mimic in real life, are Motogp 2, and the Nascar series. Being an avid fan of realism because of the easier or more comfortable controls which arcade racers tend to avoid, any Sports racing series here are therefore included while exagerated realism not (for instance Grand Turismo is, Need for Speed or Burn out too arcadish with realistic elements). Most Excellent car physics in gaming as well, le mans and pc rally games coming in second. Test drive le mans and 4x4 evo is known historically in the subculture of console gaming for first game to pass for photorealism in replays via the 'dim eye' effect where one sees objects from a distance that pass for real-life footage (which techically gaming, realtime and even cgi have yet to accomplish or to get rid of the 'art draw' effect). These are by far the most photorealistic, with crash physics for anyone looking for the best of the best on their ps3 or 360. After seeing Splinter Cell (its shading technology was the first ever done, very impressive; graphics since then has not changed and is heavily used via the 7th gen) for the first time on the original xbox i was always interested in seeing what these machines could do in terms of realism. PCs have always had the advantage of textures in this category, lets move on to strategy.

In Strategy:

The only strategy games I know of and played on consoles are C&C and Conflict Zone. I can tell you rigt now realism in strategy games needs to be defined by how it plays and looks, not how it feels. Conflict Zone for Dreamcast and Ps2 is the closest you will get to a real weapons in a real world environment give or take on console. The realism test is taken from a topographical point of view and checks out fine as well.

In FPS:

First person shooters are good but sadly there arent any realworld fps shooters, unless you count strategy FPS like the Rainbow Six series or Operation Flashpoint. The most photo-realistic games would have to be the Battlefield series, although its physics are way out there, the game will prove to be the best in Battlefield BC 2. Real-world weapons and handling in a fast paced environment on 360 gives it this one. The smaller environment of the 360 than that of the ps3 makes this one almost perfect. 360's bf badcompany 2 is mainly better as a war game than ps3 because in ps3 the feel of the weapons and environment is more realistic, so its kind of like team formation vs weapon realism here or realworld environment (non-exagerated eg giant supermen on ps3) and textures with AAvs larger environments, realistic weapon effects and explosions. Photo-realism and real physics, really make you seem small and displays a good idea of a completly destructable controlled environment. For WWII, I would try COD 2. This outweighs the PC's famous MOH series and gives the player a real feel for what certain weapons in a small environment were like during world war II, surppasing the 1942 series in terms gameplay (decisive instead of random or strategical) not replay and story though (the story mode puts you as almost invincible in taking down armies single handedly). Personally the way to go is to any rainbow six sim whether it be delta force, operation flashpoint or battlefield. The new homefront is also a good game with large environments and lots of leg room. However, censorship is still an issue, as seen since the days of mortal kombat. Censorship comes from violent videogames, however, the realism in the games are what makes it dangerous eg the subtle differences between pc and console games like how the body swings backwards when impacted by a bullet in cod for pc and just drops unrealistically via ragdoll physics for the console versions. Cod 2 was still a fav for 360 though, due to the potshot factor and urban-like environments but particularly because of the sniper stages.

In Flightsim:

Flightsims have always been photorealistic on PCs, and its a tough call. The first series to display realworld physics was aerowings, with 'shiny' arcade graphics it could look photorealistic at times through replay but so could the arcady ace combat series. Ace combat was not as real in terms of physics so it doesnt count. It is like Airforce Delta, an arcade flightsim and the legacy of once was Afterburner for genesis. The best fightersim for the consoles that I can think of in terms of photorealism and physics are def. Over-G minus the confusing characters this one would be a winner due to the realism and accuracy to its real-life counter-parts. It could have worked if they got rid of the story board..seriously how many flightsims have ace combat 'sci-fi' storyboards, cus last time i checked ace combat was arcade flight, or had unrealistic elements, yet over-g, the only true flightsim and third party game for 360 was ruined with these elements. IMHO ruined. Might as well play warthunder or world of tanks. Like how the genesis's famous f15 strike-eagle shooter, arcade shooters should be arcade shooters in fantasy settings and realistic shooters should well be real. Personally, I would like to see realworld pilots maneuvering the crafts, it would make more sense then fictional cartoons as coops or friendlies. It is fictional esque, although their skills are rated and enhanced, they seem generic or not quite real-esque, on purpose compared to the realistically boring gameplay which works in a way. Except even if i'd still like to see a realworld simulator like aerowings, I doubt there will be one. Over-G is a combination of both, but as previously stated storyboards dont count, only physics and gameplay.

In Sports:

Finally in Sports or Other, for instance realistic fps strategy as well or gameplay that mimics life or the human form (of which oddly enough the Ps2 excels in dispite the hated controller and grain effect, it is the console you want to get for photorealistic sports game genres) we have games which are meant to be photo-realistic. These games are built to mimic the environment because, well, thats how they play. Some examples are Brothers in Arms, the Rainbow Six series and the plethora of Sports games such as the UFC series or the Madden series. These games are a given to realism. They may not have the importance of a racing/flightsim game's mechanical environment or the realistic nature of an fps but they do have one thing, and that is human movement. In consideration with this type of area are physics of the human anatomy, which in all likeness are the same, robotic motions. The next gen or CGI gen of gaming will play well here. Robotic mechanics of the human being will be ever more clear and at the same time FAST! Imagine playing UFC with every movement imagine fast and slow with great details and blurred vision in an open chaotic surrounding. Quiet a task to create indeed. Much is gained, yet much can be improved here.

In Handheld:

A rec handheld console for realism in the handheld market is of course PSP. See my first post on psp vs dreamcast. PSP has an advantage of environments being large. Therefore all types of games are done via psp with realistic accuracely or semi-realism. My own interpetation is that PSP is bad at graphics, but its cpu saves it from going under by creating large multi-purpose environments which the sony brand excels at. The CPU power as the central computer processor for AI. Psp alone in cpu can have multiple ai instruction set in environments. From test drive, to gta, to fps PSP has those realistic sony graphics which make ps2 so successful. Having 60 cars or so on the screen is more important sometimes than having say..moving clouds, sigma and people. Realistically speaking of course, the psp only beats ps1 in terms of graphics. Of course this does not save it from multi-tasking environments at a fast speed, eg msr and le mans but it does create a portable psone with the same graphics and better environments, the first handheld ive seen to beat a console technically and in the same era almost!

Overall, the best replays that you can find are career mode's motogp 2 series, le mans 24 hrs, Conflict Zone, Bf series and Over-g. These are great sims that you can find on consoles. Photo-realism is important because it creates immersion in a realworld environment and can be a good use for training, excersizes or real-world situations. Sadly, this interface is usually exploited on sim console games with storymodes in the mainstream for better or for worst. Ps3 games tend to stay away from PC with unique Asthetics and Authenticity while the Xbox 360 has art asthetics and style. In this category, the past consoles that excelled in graphical realism can now be beaten easily by the xbox 360, PC and ps3 as a universal standard in graphics despite the loss in certain past genre gameplay, storyboards and/or the unique hardware visuals at the time.