The thing about how the eye works is that we switch our focus depths automatically, so whatever we're looking at is in focus. We don't notice that the rest of our field of vision is out of focus unless we make an effort to do so. As soon as we shift our focus to something that was blurry, we auto-focus and it's no longer blurred.

Exactly. The kind of depth of field seen in these shots is totally out of place unless what we're seeing are screens taken from a replay mode. Efects such as this are the result of distortions caused by the subject being viewed through a lens, and are not at all realistic to human eyesight.

On a camera, the depth of field is determined by three factors: the aperture on the lens, the focal length of the lens, and the distance the camera is from the point of focus. These shots exhibit the kind of shallow DOF you see with wide apertures and/or telephoto lenses, for example.

I'm all for extra layers of realism in the replay modes, but if developers start putting DOF effects into games just because they can, I think I'm going to snap, so I certainly hope they keep it well away from the gameplay. Having 3/4 of the screen out of focus while you're trying to drive a rally in the rain just because someone thought they'd show off their nifty shader won't be any fun (Lensflare is bad enough -- there's another example of an effect that has no business being in 90% of the games that have it, but at least it's easy enough to ignore..).

'Course, as we've all noticed, it doesn't look like they've added anything over '04 that warrants picking this one up anyway, so it's all just ranting on my part anyway..

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The dactylic pentameter consists of too [sic] parts separated by a diaeresis. Each part consists of to [sic] dactyls and a long syllable. The spondee may take the place of the dactyl in the first part, but not in tEh [sic] second... -Harkness.