I've mentioned that a few times, yeah. It really is a tiny fraction of the 750-ish cars though; at this point, I'd say it's maybe 2%. Or, put another way, less models in FM7 have FM2 bones than there were "Super Standards" in GT6.
Yeah... that's highly unlikely. I'm not saying models weren't updated — there's plenty of comparison shots that show as much — but considering the time invested with the GT6 car models, I doubt PD threw absolutely all of it away, for every car. That'd just be a colossal waste of time, to say nothing of the recycling of identical cars. If it really was all from the ground up, why use something like, say, a 2009 458 Italia?
Turn 10 said roughly the same thing around the time of FM5's release. The livery editor was the easiest way to disprove that (the same strange little issues persisted across generations), but we don't have that option in GT6 for comparisons.
Also, Sport uses plenty of fantasy cars in the Gr.4/3/B classes, which conceivably should save some time as they're usually related to existing models. Though that's what makes something like the Beetle Gr.3 all the more fascinating...
Weirdly enough, I tend to get the craving based on whichever game I'm
not playing.
Have I sat down with FM7? Suddenly, I really would like to take part in some Sport Mode races, or set up an elaborate, multi-car Scapes shot.
Have I sat down with GT Sport? There's a bunch of cars I'm now wishing I could drive, at a bunch of tracks I don't have access to, with weather.
GT6 and Forza 5 came within a month of each other. So did FM7 and GT Sport. That's roughly four years in both cases.
Also, I think we'd all agree that if another GT happens on PS4, we'd
want PD to reuse Sport assets. I can't see how that's a mark against any racing game!
That may have happened with another dev, but not with the two being discussed. Well, actually — I'm sure plenty of people snapped up the models for FH3 when Playground accidentally released that developer version January 2017...
Didn't PC1 development start back in 2011?
Talking strictly visuals, as nice as PCARS2's models are, they're not on GT Sport's level. That takes time. Same with the lighting engine, though personally, I readily accept a drop in visual quality in PCARS2's case for the sake of LiveTrack 3.0. That being said, some tracks handle it better than others: Bannochbrae looks terrible in winter weather.
Not all of PCARS2's real-world tracks are laser-scanned, too. I'm not necessarily sure that saves time (or money), but it results in a place like Sonoma feeling a little off. I want more tracks in GT Sport as much as the next person, but in semi-realistic titles, I'd rather see real-world tracks made accurately.
The fantasy tracks in Sport feel better than the PS3 era creations to me. The Tokyo tracks aren't my cup of tea, same with the rally stuff, but Maggiore, Kyoto, and Dragon Trail are all fantastic. To a lesser extent, same with Alsace.
In response to the OP, and tying all of the above together: all of these games, while existing in roughly the same space, approach the problem of making a racing game very differently. There's a list of priorities for each, and they all understandably play to those strengths, be it GT's visuals and competition approach, FM7's diversity and approachability, or PCARS2's motorsports focus.