Game Vehicles and Material Textures.

[dooknookem]

I'm fairly new to working with 3D models and have been exploring different cars from various games. In regards to the materials and textures I've painstakingly re-attributed each texture image manually to their respective material. Is this standard procedure or is there a better method for reproducing the model materials and textures? Even after getting going through the motions manually, they never end up looking quite as good as they should for the amount of work required.

Are there any available resources to read/learn more about this?

Secondary question... which game you've found to have the best models and reproducibility? Specifically inquiring about accuracy and quality for render purposes, not necessarily for use in games. FH3 and CSR2 have been quality but looking for other opinions.