I see this thread hasn't been added to in over 2 years, so perhaps this will get it going again.
Here's my biggest complaint. I spent almost a year going to the design studio, building different versions. After driving black S class Mercedes for 20+ years I wanted a very dark car, but not a black one. On the design studio was a color called "Midnight Silver Metallic" that was very, very dark (as in MIDNIGHT), but not black. To my eye, it was perfect. When I went to order the car the first question asked was if I'd selected a color and I told the gal I wanted the Midnight Silver Metallic, and the gal pointed to a panel and said that it was the color. I said, no, that's a medium silver I want the MIDNIGHT, but she said that's what it looks like in real life. I told her that the panel looked nothing like the website and the response was that the color on the web site was wrong. In disbelief, I said I'd been looking at that color for a year and if they knew it was wrong, why hadn't someone gotten around to fixing it? I hadn't been 3 minutes into the conversation and already I was having a bad experience.
Sorry about your experience, but also (sorry to say, about) your expectation... Pictures on any WWW site, for any mfgr may or may not have similar issues. Colors on a computer monitor or other device are almost never as realistic as the real thing... The physical devices limit the number of colors that can be displayed, aging display devices tend to shift in their color representation, and depending on the device, the user may or may not have tweaked colors more or less to their liking but turning a knob or a control for their display. Personally, I go to the trouble of calibrating my display monitor every few weeks using a device and program designed for such purpose. I'm not a professional, but most professional photographers and graphics artists go to that trouble in an attempt to maintain their display device in as a close-to-real-as-possible, but even then changing room lighting will cause colors to shift...
Now, all that being said, IMHO, Tesla's computer-generated design studio images are perhaps close in some situations, but others not-so-much. I was totally turned-off by tan interior because of the graphic very-yellow representation, that isn't IMHO close at all to the real thing... I began questioning it to myself when I started comparing online photographs of MS interiors, but got myself too far into my decision making process to switch back to tan interior once I saw it in person. Honestly, I've had the same sort of experience with different color variations when I've researched and ultimately purchased Lexus, MBZ and BMW using their similar computer-generated graphics. This whole computer-generated graphics representation challenge is the same across mfgrs, and does almost nothing attempting to represent colors in varying lighting conditions -- especially special metallic or muti-coat paint that are created specifically to effect the light. IMHO, that is almost impossible to recreate on static computer-generated graphics most mfgrs use these days in their configurator tools -- this isn't e.g. Pixar who spends millions on movie frames to get the lighting just-so for a single POV that no one will ever be able to compare to reality.
I've special-ordered multiple cars over the years. My suggestion to you and others is:
1) Use design studio as the starting point when you are considering colors
2) Then research different photos both on the mfgr site and as many other places as you can find. Search is your friend... And consider different lighting conditions (noon, night, under different lights, etc) in all photos you review especially with metallic-based colors
3) Before you buy, if you care about detail, go see it in person if you can. I, like I suspect many people, go to paint stores to obtain real paint swatches or quarts of paint to put on my walls so I can look at variations in different times of day, and I want to see a physical piece of material with the paint applied to it before I order any vehicle... but I'm also a really picky guy when it comes to color, tones and how my ride looks -- that some others may not be.
Hopefully you are able to take a deep breath, relax a bit, and reconsider your color options now that you've been able to experience them in person. I don't believe Tesla is at any major fault here. Good luck with your decision!
