Well I can't compare them - having never used V-Ray. V-Ray is a plugin for Maya? Not sure - but seems there is a downloadable demo (crippled) for Maya.

All I know is the Kerky gallery is impressive. But the few photos shown on the V-Ray home page are stunningly perfectly photo-real.

Kerky is free. No reason not to try it. Well, I suppose there's your time wastage. :)

Kerky also has several of their own Bagginsbills who give out awesome shaders and light sets and tons of advice for free.

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Renderosity forum reply notifications are wonky. If I read a follow-up in a thread, but I don't myself reply, then notifications no longer happen AT ALL on that thread. So if I seem to be ignoring a question, that's why. (Updated September 23, 2019)