Since were mentioning apples and oranges, no one ever speaks of Shade 8. The standard version is $199us and price breaks for Poser users etc...AND it has native 64bit OS support for free. No other package on the market has that, at that price, with the features. XSI/C4D/Maya/LW/Vue etc... you have to buy the higher end app to get 64bit. Anyways, Shade 8 looks just as good as Carrara or any app I've seen at that price range. Much better/faster renders than Bryce. But Bryce is a great Terrain making app, and it will compliment any big app out there. I use it alot for my main apps. Bryce is a work flow for me for a long time to come. I think its about what you pay for that matters. Bryce=great for the money.

edit:btw, if I had the $$$ I would go with C4D as well, I didn't like Carrara's interface. To each his own, I guess.  Can't beat Bryces ease/simplicity though.