I saw the recent E3 trailer and I have to say I was left pretty underwhelmed by the new character models (they look better in the screens than in motion). I just don't think they are that much of a leap forward compared to Sims 2. I recently saw some footage of the character creation system for a multi-player online shooter game called APB, and it completely blows away anything else in terms of how it works.
GameVideos.com - APB 'Character Creation' video Video
Now albeit that game is clearly thematically different from Sims 3, that an MMO, with all of the challenges of online play offers up that level of richness in it's character creation system makes me question why Sims 3 can't offer up something similar in level tbh. I hate to be a downer (I am looking forward to Sims 3) but I think it's time to step beyond the cartoons.