Hi Nathan.
What makes you think they didn't get technical data?
Before everyone jumps on Vstep, you need to be aware of exactly what is involved in 3D modelling. In order to create a ship, the number of individual elements ("polygons") is immense.
Each step, each door, each handle, each window, each railing, each rotating radar dish, each flashing light, each waving flag, each wall, each deck requires a lot of data which your PC must use to calculate what the ship will look like, as it tries to draw it many times each second. As the number of polygons grows, your image will move jerkily. As the number increases further, your PC just won't cope and will crash.
So, it is a series of trade offs. Your PC wants as few polygons as possible, so that it can speedily draw the images. On the other hand, you want as many as possible so that everything looks just like it does in real life.
Inevitably, a designer has to take liberties with reality so that even a medium spec PC will be able to manipulate the data. This is why Titanic has some windows missing and other things. This is why PoR is exactly as detailed as it is.
I have to say that the modellers did an excellent job, within the limitations of computer technology. A round of applause, please!