I'm a CAR subscriber, my copy has arrived too, i'd say pretty certainly these are not photochopped but real pix. You've got to remember CAR magazine is the same publication that had studio concept proposal pictures of the Ford Focus *years* before anyone else (when it looked like a space ship - kinda "no way are Ford gonna replace the Escort with that"!!!) *and* it is the same publication that (probably) got its wrists slapped by BMW for publishing a (rather critical) road test of a pre-production, non-production standard MINI prototype, *before* the press had officially been allowed to drive it at the launch. But they still get BMW's to road test and they still carry BMW adverts, so they'd likely see the risk to them of breaking a press embargo by a couple of days (possibly less if this issue is not yet widely available) is minimal.
As for what the IS250 looks like, it's OK, almost a little bland in some ways, but I'll reserve judgement till I've seen it in the metal. The views in CAR are mainly "straight on" - front, side, rear, not many "three quarter" views etc, so it's difficult to tell.
However, I remember (in fact I've still got...) the first launch article from CAR magazine on the original IS200, and that provoked a strong "must have one" reaction in me which this one has not. (That's not to say I won't end up buying one one day) :)