it doesn't really look that different, you just have an higher viewing range, and the ground looks better. That's it. But you should leave the water details at medium, since the water looks on high really crappy.
Lol? Maximum settings? It really looks not too good... On map in Vertical Challenge mod is really big problem with grass and viewing range. Grass in some places is running veeeeery slow on computer and is looking stupid. Because the main island is big, the viewing range is too small even on max. settings. Ergh.. Water details on high are looking creepy, and I don't like them too much. My PC configuration:
-Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit
-4GB RAM 800 MHz
-nVidia GeForce 8600 GT 512 MB
-Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 3.0 GHz
-500 GB hard drive
-MSI motherboard Intel P35
-Realtek High Definition Audo
-Samsung SyncMaster 2032BW 20" (digital)
...and other things.
I am running this game on low resolution, because bigger resolutions are looking too big for me (only in Stranded 2).
Screenshots maybe later.