i've seen many v good interior renders but no external ones that are to a similar standard....anyone have experience with rendering external views in vray?

I'm working on exterior right now. A bit harder doing the exterior than the interior for me. I believe there are a handful of good renders on the other threads here in PP2.

Manc, you could try looking at this site http://www.evermotion.org (http://www.evermotion.org)they seem to favour vray. Look in the visulisation gallery, some good examples in there. HTH.