Well I got to London and I must say it is has certainly "opened" up and the amount of detail is astonishing, FPS has dropped from 50-60 to 30's, although it varies.
IMO the Lighting isn't that good, not bad, but not up there with fallout 4, GTA 5 etc. imo and I actually feel that it is one of the reasons for the game not looking as good as it could in certain areas, it is too bright/glowy looking at times and gives a washed out appearance, maybe it will change/improve as I get further into the game or perhaps this is just the style that ubi were aiming for. I'm sure someone will improve the colours/contrast of the game with another sweetfx config though....
Assuming that the NPC count, buildings geometry etc. is the reason for the poor performance and the reason for lesser quality textures etc., I would rather them cut back on that and improve the other areas more. Saying that, I'm sure that they could have used better textures as with the last few games i.e. GTA 5, the textures aren't demanding at all i.e. there is little to no difference in performance between various settings:
http://www.geforce.co.uk/whats-new/...ance-guide#grand-theft-auto-v-texture-quality
I think the lighting rather suits the game, I really like those light-soaked streets Textures are fine, IMO. Fired up GTA V and it's also lacklustre in this department but still looks pretty good (not as good as I remembered it), though:
Please read the first post. No images larger than 1920x1080
Sorry, didn't have time to fish for better shots